An improved spatial contour tree constructed method

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Yi; Zhang, Ling; Guilbert, Eric; Long, Yi

2018-05-01

Contours are important data to delineate the landform on a map. A contour tree provides an object-oriented description of landforms and can be used to enrich the topological information. The traditional contour tree is used to store topological relationships between contours in a hierarchical structure and allows for the identification of eminences and depressions as sets of nested contours. This research proposes an improved contour tree so-called spatial contour tree that contains not only the topological but also the geometric information. It can be regarded as a terrain skeleton in 3-dimention, and it is established based on the spatial nodes of contours which have the latitude, longitude and elevation information. The spatial contour tree is built by connecting spatial nodes from low to high elevation for a positive landform, and from high to low elevation for a negative landform to form a hierarchical structure. The connection between two spatial nodes can provide the real distance and direction as a Euclidean vector in 3-dimention. In this paper, the construction method is tested in the experiment, and the results are discussed. The proposed hierarchical structure is in 3-demintion and can show the skeleton inside a terrain. The structure, where all nodes have geo-information, can be used to distinguish different landforms and applied for contour generalization with consideration of geographic characteristics.

Spontaneous alternation: A potential gateway to spatial working memory in Drosophila.

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Sara A; Negelspach, David C; Kaladchibachi, Sevag; Cowen, Stephen L; Fernandez, Fabian

2017-07-01

Despite their ubiquity in biomedical research, Drosophila have yet to be widely employed as model organisms in psychology. Many complex human-like behaviors are observed in Drosophila, which exhibit elaborate displays of inter-male aggression and female courtship, self-medication with alcohol in response to stress, and even cultural transmission of social information. Here, we asked whether Drosophila can demonstrate behavioral indices of spatial working memory in a Y-maze, a classic test of memory function and novelty-seeking in rodents. Our data show that Drosophila, like rodents, alternate their visits among the three arms of a Y-maze and spontaneously favor entry into arms they have explored less recently versus ones they have just seen. These findings suggest that Drosophila possess some of the information-seeking and working memory facilities mammals depend on to navigate through space and might be relevant models for understanding human psychological phenomena such as curiosity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

On spontaneous breakdown in Σ-models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ivanov, E.A.

1975-01-01

The group theory aspects of spontaneous breakdown in linear Σ-models are discussed. General conditions are formulated under which multiplet of group G (compact or noncompact) is suitable for constructing the Σ-model with a given subgroup of stability of vacuum. It is shown that the Σ-models of spontaneously broken space-time symmetries can be constructed in general only if some extra coordinates are introduced in addition to an ordinary 4-coordinate xsub(μ). The connection between Σ-models of internal symmetries and appropriate nonlinear realizations has also been investigated

Scanning of speechless comics changes spatial biases in mental model construction.

Science.gov (United States)

Román, Antonio; Flumini, Andrea; Santiago, Julio

2018-08-05

The mental representation of both time and number shows lateral spatial biases, which can be affected by habitual reading and writing direction. However, this effect is in place before children begin to read. One potential early cause is the experiences of looking at picture books together with a carer, as those images also follow the directionality of the script. What is the underlying mechanism for this effect? In the present study, we test the possibility that such experiences induce spatial biases in mental model construction, a mechanism which is a good candidate to induce the biases observed with numbers and times. We presented a speechless comic in either standard (left-to-right) or mirror-reversed (right-to-left) form to adult Spanish participants. We then asked them to draw the scene depicted by sentences like 'the square is between the cross and the circle'. The position of the lateral objects in these drawings reveals the spatial biases at work when building mental models in working memory. Under conditions of highly consistent directionality, the mirror comic changed pre-existing lateral biases. Processes of mental model construction in working memory stand as a potential mechanism for the generation of spatial biases for time and number.This article is part of the theme issue 'Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain'. © 2018 The Author(s).

Spatial Dependent Spontaneous Emission of an Atom in a Semi-Infinite Waveguide of Rectangular Cross Section

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Hai-Xi; Sun, Xiao-Qi; Lu, Jing; Zhou, Lan

2018-01-01

We study a quantum electrodynamics (QED) system made of a two-level atom and a semi-infinite rectangular waveguide, which behaves as a perfect mirror in one end. The spatial dependence of the atomic spontaneous emission has been included in the coupling strength relevant to the eigenmodes of the waveguide. The role of retardation is studied for the atomic transition frequency far away from the cutoff frequencies. The atom-mirror distance introduces different phases and retardation times into the dynamics of the atom interacting resonantly with the corresponding transverse modes. It is found that the upper state population decreases from its initial as long as the atom-mirror distance does not vanish, and is lowered and lowered when more and more transverse modes are resonant with the atom. The atomic spontaneous emission can be either suppressed or enhanced by adjusting the atomic location for short retardation time. There are partial revivals and collapses due to the photon reabsorbed and re-emitted by the atom for long retardation time. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 11374095, 11422540, 11434011, and 11575058, National Fundamental Research Program of China (the 973 Program) under Grant No. 2012CB922103, and Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 11JJ7001

When do humans spontaneously adopt another's visuospatial perspective?

Science.gov (United States)

Freundlieb, Martin; Kovács, Ágnes M; Sebanz, Natalie

2016-03-01

Perspective-taking is a key component of social interactions. However, there is an ongoing controversy about whether, when and how instances of spontaneous visuospatial perspective-taking occur. The aim of this study was to investigate the underlying factors as well as boundary conditions that characterize the spontaneous adoption of another person's visuospatial perspective (VSP) during social interactions. We used a novel paradigm, in which a participant and a confederate performed a simple stimulus-response (SR) compatibility task sitting at a 90° angle to each other. In this set-up, participants would show a spatial compatibility effect only if they adopted the confederate's VSP. In a series of 5 experiments we found that participants reliably adopted the VSP of the confederate, as long as he was perceived as an intentionally acting agent. Our results therefore show that humans are able to spontaneously adopt the differing VSP of another agent and that there is a tight link between perspective-taking and performing actions together. The results suggest that spontaneous VSP-taking can effectively facilitate and speed up spatial alignment processes accruing from dynamic interactions in multiagent environments. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Introduction to the transverse spatial correlations in spontaneous parametric down-conversion through the biphoton birth zone

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schneeloch, James; Howell, John C

2016-01-01

As a tutorial to the spatial aspects of spontaneous parametric downconversion (SPDC), we present a detailed first-principles derivation of the transverse correlation width of photon pairs in degenerate collinear SPDC. This width defines the size of a biphoton birth zone, the region where the signal and idler photons are likely to be found when conditioning on the position of the destroyed pump photon. Along the way, we discuss the quantum-optical calculation of the amplitude for the SPDC process, as well as its simplified form for nearly collinear degenerate phase matching. Following this, we show how this biphoton amplitude can be approximated with a double-Gaussian wavefunction, and give a brief discussion of the measurement statistics (and subsequent convenience) of such double-Gaussian wavefunctions. Next, we use this approximation to get a simplified estimation of the transverse correlation width, and compare it to more accurate calculations as well as experimental results. We then conclude with a discussion of the concept of a biphoton birth zone, using it to develop intuition for the tradeoff between the first-order spatial coherence and bipohoton correlations in SPDC. (tutorial)

Spontaneous symmetry breaking in N=3 supergravity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zinov'ev, Yu.M.

1986-01-01

The possibility of the spontaneous symmetry breaking without a cosmological term in N=3 supergravity is investigated. A new, dual version of N=3 supergravity - U(3)-supergravity is constructed. Such a theory is shown to admit a spontaneous supersymmetry breaking without a cosmological term and with three arbitrary scales, including partial super-Higgs effect N=3 → N=2 and N=3 → N=1

Realization of the purely spatial Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox in full-field images of spontaneous parametric down-conversion

Science.gov (United States)

Moreau, Paul-Antoine; Mougin-Sisini, Joé; Devaux, Fabrice; Lantz, Eric

2012-07-01

We demonstrate Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) entanglement by detecting purely spatial quantum correlations in the near and far fields of spontaneous parametric down-conversion generated in a type-2 beta barium borate crystal. Full-field imaging is performed in the photon-counting regime with an electron-multiplying CCD camera. The data are used without any postselection, and we obtain a violation of Heisenberg inequalities with inferred quantities taking into account all the biphoton pairs in both the near and far fields by integration on the entire two-dimensional transverse planes. This ensures a rigorous demonstration of the EPR paradox in its original position-momentum form.

L’habitat spontané comme un outil de développement urbain. Le cas de Bangkok Spontaneous Housing as a Tool for Urban Development, the Case of Bangkok

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fanny Gerbeaud

2011-10-01

Full Text Available En Thaïlande, les ensembles d’habitat spontané s’étendent à toute la capitale, malgré des politiques publiques qui visent à les contrer. Ce sont aujourd’hui de véritables morceaux de ville qui dynamisent l’espace urbain, car étroitement liés à l’identité et à l’histoire de la ville. L’opposition entre habitat spontané et « logement formel », fréquente tant dans les productions scientifiques que dans les représentations, mérite donc d���être interrogée à Bangkok. À partir d’une analyse spatiale et architecturale, nous avons abordé l’habitat spontané comme une manière de fabriquer la ville centrée sur l’appropriation : au moins sous trois formes (habitat spontané pur, ancien, greffé, il assure par sa flexibilité la continuité du tissu urbain et s’y assimile progressivement. Si pour les autorités locales les communautés de bidonvilles demeurent un signe de sous-développement, certains architectes et acteurs y voient une source d’inspiration ainsi qu’un patrimoine populaire à préserver. Une métropolisation accrue et la mondialisation des échanges économiques, culturels, politiques, amènent de nouvelles modalités de négociation de l’espace urbain qui redéfinissent le statut de l’habitat spontané. Avec l’apparition de nouvelles professions (architecte des communautés et orientations dans la manière de concevoir des projets urbains (processus participatif notamment, l’habitat spontané s’affirme peu à peu comme un outil de développement de la capitale.In Thailand, despite some public policies, spontaneous settlements spread all over the city. Closely related to the city’s history and identity they are nowadays real dynamic neighbourhoods. The opposition between spontaneous housing and “formal housing”, common in both the scientific publications and representations, is yet to be questioned in Bangkok. Through an architectural and spatial analysis, we

Dynamics of Spontaneous Emission Controlled by Local Density of States in Photonic Crystals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lodahl, Peter; Nikolaev, Ivan S.; van Driel, A. Floris

2006-01-01

We have measured time-resolved spontaneous emission from quantum dots in 3D photonic crystals. Due to the spatially dependent local density of states, the distribution of decay rates varies strongly with the photonic crystal lattice parameter.......We have measured time-resolved spontaneous emission from quantum dots in 3D photonic crystals. Due to the spatially dependent local density of states, the distribution of decay rates varies strongly with the photonic crystal lattice parameter....

Spatiality of ethnic identity and construction of sociopolitical interaction in South Sudan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kon K. Madut

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This article explores the complexity of the spatial construction of ethnicity, identity, and sociopolitical interaction among South Sudanese ethnic groups. The article focuses on the interplay between social interaction and the construction of ethnic identity as they affect the notion of human interaction and welfare. The narratives are based on the political sociology of South Sudan after its independence from Sudan and challenges endured in the process of sociopolitical transformation towards the reconstruction of national identity and peaceful coexistence. This discourse gives meaning to visible and invisible ethno-cultural constructions that shaped the norms of social and political interactions among various ethnic groups in the country. The analysis concluded that South Sudan society is socially, politically, and culturally constructed along ethnicized communities with variant perceptions of group and regional identities based on both primordial ties and instrumentalists’ perceptions. These unique characteristics of spaces and construction of social structure has created multi-faceted challenges in the process of social, economic and political reconstruction after the independent of South Sudan in July 2011.

Disparities in visuo-spatial constructive abilities in Williams syndrome patients with typical deletion on chromosome 7q11.23.

Science.gov (United States)

Muramatsu, Yukako; Tokita, Yoshihito; Mizuno, Seiji; Nakamura, Miho

2017-02-01

Williams syndrome (WS) is known for its uneven cognitive abilities, especially the difficulty in visuo-spatial cognition, though there are some inter-individual phenotypic differences. It has been proposed that the difficulty in visuo-spatial cognition of WS patients can be attributed to a haploinsufficiency of some genes located on the deleted region in 7q11.23, based on an examination of atypical deletions identified in WS patients with atypical cognitive deficits. According to this hypothesis, the inter-individual differences in visuo-spatial cognitive ability arise from variations in deletion. We investigated whether there were inter-individual differences in the visuo-spatial constructive abilities of five unrelated WS patients with the typical deletion on chromosome 7q11.23 that includes the candidate genes contributing visuo-spatial difficulty in WS patients. We used tests with three-dimensional factors such as Benton's three-dimensional block construction test, which are considered to be more sensitive than those with only two-dimensional factors. There were diverse inter-individual differences in the visuo-spatial constructive abilities among the present participants who shared the same typical genomic deletion of WS. One of the participants showed almost equivalent performances to typically developing adults in those tests. In the present study, we found a wide range of cognitive abilities in visuo-spatial construction even among the patients with a common deletion pattern of WS. The findings suggest that attributing differences in the phenotypes entirely to genetic factors such as an atypical deletion may not be always correct. Copyright © 2016 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spatial-orientation priming impedes rather than facilitates the spontaneous control of hand-retraction speeds in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Polina Yanovich

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Often in Parkinson's disease (PD motor-related problems overshadow latent non-motor deficits as it is difficult to dissociate one from the other with commonly used observational inventories. Here we ask if the variability patterns of hand speed and acceleration would be revealing of deficits in spatial-orientation related decisions as patients performed a familiar reach-to-grasp task. To this end we use spatial-orientation priming which normally facilitates motor-program selection and asked whether in PD spatial-orientation priming helps or hinders performance. METHODS: To dissociate spatial-orientation- and motor-related deficits participants performed two versions of the task. The biomechanical version (DEFAULT required the same postural- and hand-paths as the orientation-priming version (primed-UP. Any differences in the patients here could not be due to motor issues as the tasks were biomechanically identical. The other priming version (primed-DOWN however required additional spatial and postural processing. We assessed in all three cases both the forward segment deliberately aimed towards the spatial-target and the retracting segment, spontaneously bringing the hand to rest without an instructed goal. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: We found that forward and retracting segments belonged in two different statistical classes according to the fluctuations of speed and acceleration maxima. Further inspection revealed conservation of the forward (voluntary control of speed but in PD a discontinuity of this control emerged during the uninstructed retractions which was absent in NC. Two PD groups self-emerged: one group in which priming always affected the retractions and the other in which only the more challenging primed-DOWN condition was affected. These PD-groups self-formed according to the speed variability patterns, which systematically changed along a gradient that depended on the priming, thus dissociating motor from spatial

Two-dimensional sub-half-wavelength atom localization via controlled spontaneous emission.

Science.gov (United States)

Wan, Ren-Gang; Zhang, Tong-Yi

2011-12-05

We propose a scheme for two-dimensional (2D) atom localization based on the controlled spontaneous emission, in which the atom interacts with two orthogonal standing-wave fields. Due to the spatially dependent atom-field interaction, the position probability distribution of the atom can be directly determined by measuring the resulting spontaneously emission spectrum. The phase sensitive property of the atomic system leads to quenching of the spontaneous emission in some regions of the standing-waves, which significantly reduces the uncertainty in the position measurement of the atom. We find that the frequency measurement of the emitted light localizes the atom in half-wavelength domain. Especially the probability of finding the atom at a particular position can reach 100% when a photon with certain frequency is detected. By increasing the Rabi frequencies of the driving fields, such 2D sub-half-wavelength atom localization can acquire high spatial resolution.

Planning for spontaneous evacuation during a radiological emergency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnson, J.H. Jr.

1984-01-01

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA's) radiological emergency preparedness program ignores the potential problem of spontaneous evacuation during a nuclear reactor accident. To show the importance of incorporating the emergency spatial behaviors of the population at risk in radiological emergency preparedness and response plans, this article presents empirical evidence that demonstrates the potential magnitude and geographic extent of spontaneous evacuation in the event of an accident at the Long Island Lighting Company's Shoreham Nuclear Power Station. The results indicate that, on the average, 39% of the population of Long Island is likely to evacuate spontaneously and thus to cast an evacuation shadow extending at least 25 miles beyond the plant. On the basis of these findings, necessary revisions to FEMA's radiological emergency preparedness program are outlined

Caffeine improves spatial learning deficits in an animal model of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) -- the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR).

Science.gov (United States)

Prediger, Rui D S; Pamplona, Fabrício A; Fernandes, Daniel; Takahashi, Reinaldo N

2005-12-01

The spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) is generally considered to be a suitable genetic model for the study of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), since it displays hyperactivity, impulsivity, poorly sustained attention, and deficits in learning and memory processes. Converging evidence suggests a primary role of disturbance in the dopaminergic neurotransmission in ADHD patients and in SHR, and in addition, some studies have also demonstrated alterations in adenosinergic neurotransmission in SHR. In the present study, adult female Wistar (WIS) and SHR rats received caffeine (1-10 mg/kg i.p.) 30 min before training, immediately after training, or 30 min before a test session in the spatial version of the Morris water maze. The effect of caffeine administration on WIS and SHR blood pressure was also measured. SHR needed significantly more trials in the training session to acquire the spatial information, but they displayed a similar profile to that of WIS rats in the test session (48 h later), demonstrating a selective deficit in spatial learning. Pre-training administration of caffeine (1-10 mg/kg i.p.) improved this spatial learning deficit in SHR, but did not alter the WIS performance. In contrast, post-training administration of caffeine (3 mg/kg i.p.) did not alter the SHR test performance, but increased memory retention in WIS rats. No dose of caffeine tested altered the mean blood pressure of WIS or SHR. These results demonstrate a selective spatial learning deficit in SHR which can be attenuated by pre-training administration of caffeine. In addition, the present findings indicate that the spatial learning deficit in SHR is not directly related to hypertension.

The relation between early constructive play and mathematical word problem solving is mediated by spatial ability. A path analysis in sixth grade students.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Oostermeijer, M.; Boonen, A.J.H.; Jolles, J.

2014-01-01

The scientific literature shows that constructive play activities are positively related to children's spatial ability. Likewise, a close positive relation is found between spatial ability and mathematical word problem-solving performances. The relation between children's constructive play and their

Inhibition of connexin43 hemichannels impairs spatial short-term memory without affecting spatial working memory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Walrave

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Astrocytes are active players in higher brain function as they can release gliotransmitters, which are essential for synaptic plasticity. Various mechanisms have been proposed for gliotransmission, including vesicular mechanisms as well as non-vesicular ones, for example by passive diffusion via connexin hemichannels (HCs. We here investigated whether interfering with connexin43 (Cx43 HCs influenced hippocampal spatial memory. We made use of the peptide Gap19 that blocks HCs but not gap junction channels and is specific for Cx43. To this end, we microinfused transactivator of transcription linked Gap19 (TAT-Gap19 into the brain ventricle of male NMRI mice and assessed spatial memory in a Y maze. We found that the in vivo blockade of Cx43 HCs did not affect the locomotor activity or spatial working memory in a spontaneous alternation Y maze task. Cx43 blockade did however significantly impair the spatial short-term memory in a delayed spontaneous alternation Y maze task. These results indicate that Cx43 HCs play a role in spatial short-term memory.

Noise-induced effects on multicellular biopacemaker spontaneous activity: Differences between weak and strong pacemaker cells

Science.gov (United States)

Aghighi, Alireza; Comtois, Philippe

2017-09-01

Self-organization of spontaneous activity of a network of active elements is important to the general theory of reaction-diffusion systems as well as for pacemaking activity to initiate beating of the heart. Monolayer cultures of neonatal rat ventricular myocytes, consisting of resting and pacemaker cells, exhibit spontaneous activation of their electrical activity. Similarly, one proposed approach to the development of biopacemakers as an alternative to electronic pacemakers for cardiac therapy is based on heterogeneous cardiac cells with resting and spontaneously beating phenotypes. However, the combined effect of pacemaker characteristics, density, and spatial distribution of the pacemaker cells on spontaneous activity is unknown. Using a simple stochastic pattern formation algorithm, we previously showed a clear nonlinear dependency of spontaneous activity (occurrence and amplitude of spontaneous period) on the spatial patterns of pacemaker cells. In this study, we show that this behavior is dependent on the pacemaker cell characteristics, with weaker pacemaker cells requiring higher density and larger clusters to sustain multicellular activity. These multicellular structures also demonstrated an increased sensitivity to voltage noise that favored spontaneous activity at lower density while increasing temporal variation in the period of activity. This information will help researchers overcome the current limitations of biopacemakers.

Spontaneously broken version of N=4 supersymmetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Terent'ev, M.V.

1989-01-01

The special scenario of reduction from the space of D=10 dimensions is used to construct the theory with describes interaction of supergravity with only one multiplet of matter in the framework of spontaneously broken N=4 supersymmetry. 6 refs.; 1 fig

Dynamic spatial structure of spontaneous beams in photorefractive bismuth sillicon oxide

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buchhave, Preben; Lyuksyutov, S.; Vasnetsov, M.

1996-01-01

We report the domain structure of spontaneously occurring beams (subharmonics) in photorefractive bismuth silicon oxide with an applied electric field from 1 to 6 kV/cm and a running grating. The subharmonic beams are generated in a pattern of domains that evolve dynamically as they move through ...

Spontaneous Plasticity of Multineuronal Activity Patterns in Activated Hippocampal Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Atsushi Usami

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Using functional multineuron imaging with single-cell resolution, we examined how hippocampal networks by themselves change the spatiotemporal patterns of spontaneous activity during the course of emitting spontaneous activity. When extracellular ionic concentrations were changed to those that mimicked in vivo conditions, spontaneous activity was increased in active cell number and activity frequency. When ionic compositions were restored to the control conditions, the activity level returned to baseline, but the weighted spatial dispersion of active cells, as assessed by entropy-based metrics, did not. Thus, the networks can modify themselves by altering the internal structure of their correlated activity, even though they as a whole maintained the same level of activity in space and time.

Uncovering intrinsic modular organization of spontaneous brain activity in humans.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yong He

Full Text Available The characterization of topological architecture of complex brain networks is one of the most challenging issues in neuroscience. Slow (<0.1 Hz, spontaneous fluctuations of the blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD signal in functional magnetic resonance imaging are thought to be potentially important for the reflection of spontaneous neuronal activity. Many studies have shown that these fluctuations are highly coherent within anatomically or functionally linked areas of the brain. However, the underlying topological mechanisms responsible for these coherent intrinsic or spontaneous fluctuations are still poorly understood. Here, we apply modern network analysis techniques to investigate how spontaneous neuronal activities in the human brain derived from the resting-state BOLD signals are topologically organized at both the temporal and spatial scales. We first show that the spontaneous brain functional networks have an intrinsically cohesive modular structure in which the connections between regions are much denser within modules than between them. These identified modules are found to be closely associated with several well known functionally interconnected subsystems such as the somatosensory/motor, auditory, attention, visual, subcortical, and the "default" system. Specifically, we demonstrate that the module-specific topological features can not be captured by means of computing the corresponding global network parameters, suggesting a unique organization within each module. Finally, we identify several pivotal network connectors and paths (predominantly associated with the association and limbic/paralimbic cortex regions that are vital for the global coordination of information flow over the whole network, and we find that their lesions (deletions critically affect the stability and robustness of the brain functional system. Together, our results demonstrate the highly organized modular architecture and associated topological properties in

Spatial Econometric Research on the Relationship between Highway Construction and Regional Economic Growth in China: Evidence from the Nationwide Panel Data

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, N. J.; Li, W. J.; Li, Y.; Bai, Y. F.

2017-12-01

Based on spatial panel data from 2010 to 2016 in China, this paper makes an empirical analysis on the relationship between highway construction and regional economic growth by means of spatial econometric model. The results show that there is positive spatial correlation on regional economic growth in China, and strong spatial dependences between some provinces and cities appear, specifically, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Zhejiang and other eastern coastal areas show high-high agglomeration trend, the Pearl River Delta region presents high-low agglomeration trend; In terms of nationwide provinces and municipalities, a province’s highway construction investment for their own province and the neighboring provinces has pulling effect on economic growth to a certain extent, and the direct effect is more obvious.

Simulating spontaneous parametric down-conversion using classical light: Conference paper

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Zhang, Y

2014-08-01

Full Text Available We present a simple way of simulating Spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) by modulating a classical laser beam with two spatial light modulators (SLM) through a back projection setup. This system has the advantage of having very high...

Spontaneous symmetry breaking in 4-dimensional heterotic string

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maharana, J.

1989-07-01

The evolution of a 4-dimensional heterotic string is considered in the background of its massless excitations such as graviton, antisymmetric tensor, gauge fields and scalar bosons. The compactified bosonic coordinates are fermionized. The world-sheet supersymmetry requirement enforces Thirring-like four fermion coupling to the background scalar fields. The non-abelian gauge symmetry is exhibited through the Ward identities of the S-matrix elements. The spontaneous symmetry breaking mechanism is exhibited through the broken Ward identities. An effective 4-dimensional action is constructed and the consequence of spontaneous symmetry breaking is envisaged for the effective action. 19 refs

Spontaneous and visually-driven high-frequency oscillations in the occipital cortex: Intracranial recording in epileptic patients

Science.gov (United States)

Nagasawa, Tetsuro; Juhász, Csaba; Rothermel, Robert; Hoechstetter, Karsten; Sood, Sandeep; Asano, Eishi

2011-01-01

SUMMARY High-frequency oscillations (HFOs) at ≧80 Hz of nonepileptic nature spontaneously emerge from human cerebral cortex. In 10 patients with extra-occipital lobe epilepsy, we compared the spectral-spatial characteristics of HFOs spontaneously arising from the nonepileptic occipital cortex with those of HFOs driven by a visual task as well as epileptogenic HFOs arising from the extra-occipital seizure focus. We identified spontaneous HFOs at ≧80 Hz with a mean duration of 330 msec intermittently emerging from the occipital cortex during interictal slow-wave sleep. The spectral frequency band of spontaneous occipital HFOs was similar to that of visually-driven HFOs. Spontaneous occipital HFOs were spatially sparse and confined to smaller areas, whereas visually-driven HFOs involved the larger areas including the more rostral sites. Neither spectral frequency band nor amplitude of spontaneous occipital HFOs significantly differed from those of epileptogenic HFOs. Spontaneous occipital HFOs were strongly locked to the phase of delta activity, but the strength of delta-phase coupling decayed from 1 to 3 Hz. Conversely, epileptogenic extra-occipital HFOs were locked to the phase of delta activity about equally in the range from 1 to 3 Hz. The occipital cortex spontaneously generates physiological HFOs which may stand out on electrocorticography traces as prominently as pathological HFOs arising from elsewhere; this observation should be taken into consideration during presurgical evaluation. Coupling of spontaneous delta and HFOs may increase the understanding of significance of delta-oscillations during slow-wave sleep. Further studies are warranted to determine whether delta-phase coupling distinguishes physiological from pathological HFOs or simply differs across anatomical locations. PMID:21432945

Spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry and gauge invariance in supergravity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sohnius, M. (European Organization for Nuclear Research, Geneva (Switzerland)); West, P. (King' s Coll., London (UK). Dept. of Mathematics)

1982-08-09

Using the new minimal auxillary fields of N = 1 supergravity it is found possible to construct a model of local supersymmetry which spontaneously breaks both supersymmetry and gauge invariance. The status of the cosmological constant resulting from this breaking is discussed.

Spontaneous symmetry breaking in N = 2 supergravity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zinov'ev, Y.M.

1987-01-01

A model describing the interaction of N = 2 supergravity with a vector and a linear multiplet is constructed. The model admits the introduction of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking with two arbitrary scales, one of which can be equal to zero, corresponding to the partial super-Higgs effect (N = 2→N = 1). The cosmological term is automatically equal to zero

Spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry and gauge invariance in supergravity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sohnius, M.; West, P.

1982-01-01

Using the new minimal auxillary fields of N = 1 supergravity it is found possible to construct a model of local supersymmetry which spontaneously breaks both supersymmetry and gauge invariance. The status of the cosmological constant resulting from this breaking is discussed. (orig.)

Do static atoms outside a Schwarzschild black hole spontaneously excite?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu Hongwei; Zhou Wenting

2007-01-01

The spontaneous excitation of a two-level atom held static outside a four dimensional Schwarzschild black hole and in interaction with a massless scalar field in the Boulware, Unruh, and Hartle-Hawking vacuums is investigated, and the contributions of the vacuum fluctuations and radiation reaction to the rate of change of the mean atomic energy are calculated separately. We find that, for the Boulware vacuum, the spontaneous excitation does not occur and the ground-state atoms are stable, while the spontaneous emission rate for excited atoms in the Boulware vacuum, which is well behaved at the event horizon, is not the same as that in the usual Minkowski vacuum. However, for both the Unruh vacuum and the Hartle-Hawking vacuum, our results show that the atom would spontaneously excite, as if there were an outgoing thermal flux of radiation or as if it were in a thermal bath of radiation at a proper temperature which reduces to the Hawking temperature in the spatial asymptotic region, depending on whether the scalar field is in the Unruh or Hartle-Hawking vacuum

Location Prediction Based on Transition Probability Matrices Constructing from Sequential Rules for Spatial-Temporal K-Anonymity Dataset

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Zhao; Zhu, Yunhong; Wu, Chenxue

2016-01-01

Spatial-temporal k-anonymity has become a mainstream approach among techniques for protection of users’ privacy in location-based services (LBS) applications, and has been applied to several variants such as LBS snapshot queries and continuous queries. Analyzing large-scale spatial-temporal anonymity sets may benefit several LBS applications. In this paper, we propose two location prediction methods based on transition probability matrices constructing from sequential rules for spatial-temporal k-anonymity dataset. First, we define single-step sequential rules mined from sequential spatial-temporal k-anonymity datasets generated from continuous LBS queries for multiple users. We then construct transition probability matrices from mined single-step sequential rules, and normalize the transition probabilities in the transition matrices. Next, we regard a mobility model for an LBS requester as a stationary stochastic process and compute the n-step transition probability matrices by raising the normalized transition probability matrices to the power n. Furthermore, we propose two location prediction methods: rough prediction and accurate prediction. The former achieves the probabilities of arriving at target locations along simple paths those include only current locations, target locations and transition steps. By iteratively combining the probabilities for simple paths with n steps and the probabilities for detailed paths with n-1 steps, the latter method calculates transition probabilities for detailed paths with n steps from current locations to target locations. Finally, we conduct extensive experiments, and correctness and flexibility of our proposed algorithm have been verified. PMID:27508502

High-precision atom localization via controllable spontaneous emission in a cycle-configuration atomic system.

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Chunling; Li, Jiahua; Yu, Rong; Hao, Xiangying; Wu, Ying

2012-03-26

A scheme for realizing two-dimensional (2D) atom localization is proposed based on controllable spontaneous emission in a coherently driven cycle-configuration atomic system. As the spatial-position-dependent atom-field interaction, the frequency of the spontaneously emitted photon carries the information about the position of the atom. Therefore, by detecting the emitted photon one could obtain the position information available, and then we demonstrate high-precision and high-resolution 2D atom localization induced by the quantum interference between the multiple spontaneous decay channels. Moreover, we can achieve 100% probability of finding the atom at an expected position by choosing appropriate system parameters under certain conditions.

Spontaneous mutation by mutagenic repair of spontaneous lesions in DNA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hastings, P.J.; Quah, S.-K.; Borstel, R.C. von

1976-01-01

It is stated that strains of yeast carrying mutations in many of the steps in pathways repairing radiation-induced damage to DNA have enhanced spontaneous mutation rates. Most strains isolated because they have enhanced spontaneous mutation carry mutations in DNA repair systems. This suggests that much spontaneous mutation arises by mutagenic repair of spontaneous lesions. (author)

Spontaneously broken continuous symmetries in hyperbolic (or open) de Sitter spacetime

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ratra, B.

1994-01-01

The functional Schroedinger approach is used to study scalar field theory in hyperbolic (or open) de Sitter spacetime. While on intermediate length scales (small compared to the spatial curvature length scale) the massless minimally coupled scalar field two-point correlation function does have a term that varies logarithmically with scale, as in flat and closed de Sitter spacetime, the spatial curvature tames the infrared behavior of this correlation function at larger scales in the open model. As a result, and contrary to what happens in flat and closed de Sitter spacetime, spontaneously broken continuous symmetries are not restored in open de Sitter spacetime (with more than one spatial dimension)

Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking and Nambu–Goldstone Bosons in Quantum Many-Body Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomáš Brauner

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Spontaneous symmetry breaking is a general principle that constitutes the underlying concept of a vast number of physical phenomena ranging from ferromagnetism and superconductivity in condensed matter physics to the Higgs mechanism in the standard model of elementary particles. I focus on manifestations of spontaneously broken symmetries in systems that are not Lorentz invariant, which include both nonrelativistic systems as well as relativistic systems at nonzero density, providing a self-contained review of the properties of spontaneously broken symmetries specific to such theories. Topics covered include: (i Introduction to the mathematics of spontaneous symmetry breaking and the Goldstone theorem. (ii Minimization of Higgs-type potentials for higher-dimensional representations. (iii Counting rules for Nambu–Goldstone bosons and their dispersion relations. (iv Construction of effective Lagrangians. Specific examples in both relativistic and nonrelativistic physics are worked out in detail.

Predictions of the spontaneous symmetry-breaking theory for visual code completeness and spatial scaling in single-cell learning rules.

Science.gov (United States)

Webber, C J

2001-05-01

This article shows analytically that single-cell learning rules that give rise to oriented and localized receptive fields, when their synaptic weights are randomly and independently initialized according to a plausible assumption of zero prior information, will generate visual codes that are invariant under two-dimensional translations, rotations, and scale magnifications, provided that the statistics of their training images are sufficiently invariant under these transformations. Such codes span different image locations, orientations, and size scales with equal economy. Thus, single-cell rules could account for the spatial scaling property of the cortical simple-cell code. This prediction is tested computationally by training with natural scenes; it is demonstrated that a single-cell learning rule can give rise to simple-cell receptive fields spanning the full range of orientations, image locations, and spatial frequencies (except at the extreme high and low frequencies at which the scale invariance of the statistics of digitally sampled images must ultimately break down, because of the image boundary and the finite pixel resolution). Thus, no constraint on completeness, or any other coupling between cells, is necessary to induce the visual code to span wide ranges of locations, orientations, and size scales. This prediction is made using the theory of spontaneous symmetry breaking, which we have previously shown can also explain the data-driven self-organization of a wide variety of transformation invariances in neurons' responses, such as the translation invariance of complex cell response.

Intransigent Vowel-Consonant Position in Korean Dysgraphia: Evidence of Spatial-Constructive Representation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

HyangHee Kim

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Dysgraphia due to a focal brain lesion can be characterized by substitution, transposition, deletion and/or addition errors of graphemes or strokes. However, those linguistic errors can be language-specific because the writing system of a given language may influence error patterns. We investigated a Korean stroke patient, a 57-year-old English teacher with dysgraphia both in Korean Han-geul (한글 and in English alphabet writings. The results of an experimental testing revealed transposition errors between a consonant and a vowel only in English but not in Korean writings. This austerity of vowel-consonant position may be attributed to a unique Korean writing system of a spatially well-formed syllabic configuration or block with consonant(s and a vowel. In light of a neuropsychological model of writing, which depicts a multi-level spelling and writing process, we suggest a spatial-constructional component of internal orthographic representations in Korean writing. This Korean graphemic configuration feature may be resistant to a focal, left cerebral damage, and thus, we also discuss our results in terms of cerebral lateralization of the writing processes.

N=1 superstrings with spontaneously broken symmetries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferrara, S.

1988-01-01

We construct N=1 chiral superstrings with spontaneously broken gauge symmetry in four space-time dimensions. These new string solutions are obtained by a generalized coordinate-dependent Z 2 orbifold compactification of some non-chiral five-dimensional N=1 and N=2 superstrings. The scale of symmetry breaking is arbitrary (at least classically) and it can be chosen hierarchically smaller than the string scale (α') -1/2 . (orig.)

Evaluation of MRI and cannabinoid type 1 receptor PET templates constructed using DARTEL for spatial normalization of rat brains

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kronfeld, Andrea; Müller-Forell, Wibke; Buchholz, Hans-Georg; Maus, Stephan; Reuss, Stefan; Schreckenberger, Mathias; Miederer, Isabelle; Lutz, Beat

2015-01-01

Purpose: Image registration is one prerequisite for the analysis of brain regions in magnetic-resonance-imaging (MRI) or positron-emission-tomography (PET) studies. Diffeomorphic anatomical registration through exponentiated Lie algebra (DARTEL) is a nonlinear, diffeomorphic algorithm for image registration and construction of image templates. The goal of this small animal study was (1) the evaluation of a MRI and calculation of several cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptor PET templates constructed using DARTEL and (2) the analysis of the image registration accuracy of MR and PET images to their DARTEL templates with reference to analytical and iterative PET reconstruction algorithms. Methods: Five male Sprague Dawley rats were investigated for template construction using MRI and [ 18 F]MK-9470 PET for CB1 receptor representation. PET images were reconstructed using the algorithms filtered back-projection, ordered subset expectation maximization in 2D, and maximum a posteriori in 3D. Landmarks were defined on each MR image, and templates were constructed under different settings, i.e., based on different tissue class images [gray matter (GM), white matter (WM), and GM + WM] and regularization forms (“linear elastic energy,” “membrane energy,” and “bending energy”). Registration accuracy for MRI and PET templates was evaluated by means of the distance between landmark coordinates. Results: The best MRI template was constructed based on gray and white matter images and the regularization form linear elastic energy. In this case, most distances between landmark coordinates were <1 mm. Accordingly, MRI-based spatial normalization was most accurate, but results of the PET-based spatial normalization were quite comparable. Conclusions: Image registration using DARTEL provides a standardized and automatic framework for small animal brain data analysis. The authors were able to show that this method works with high reliability and validity. Using DARTEL templates

Evaluation of MRI and cannabinoid type 1 receptor PET templates constructed using DARTEL for spatial normalization of rat brains

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kronfeld, Andrea; Müller-Forell, Wibke [Institute of Neuroradiology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Langenbeckstraße 1, Mainz 55131 (Germany); Buchholz, Hans-Georg; Maus, Stephan; Reuss, Stefan; Schreckenberger, Mathias; Miederer, Isabelle, E-mail: isabelle.miederer@unimedizin-mainz.de [Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Langenbeckstraße 1, Mainz 55131 (Germany); Lutz, Beat [Institute of Physiological Chemistry, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Duesbergweg 6, Mainz 55128 (Germany)

2015-12-15

Purpose: Image registration is one prerequisite for the analysis of brain regions in magnetic-resonance-imaging (MRI) or positron-emission-tomography (PET) studies. Diffeomorphic anatomical registration through exponentiated Lie algebra (DARTEL) is a nonlinear, diffeomorphic algorithm for image registration and construction of image templates. The goal of this small animal study was (1) the evaluation of a MRI and calculation of several cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptor PET templates constructed using DARTEL and (2) the analysis of the image registration accuracy of MR and PET images to their DARTEL templates with reference to analytical and iterative PET reconstruction algorithms. Methods: Five male Sprague Dawley rats were investigated for template construction using MRI and [{sup 18}F]MK-9470 PET for CB1 receptor representation. PET images were reconstructed using the algorithms filtered back-projection, ordered subset expectation maximization in 2D, and maximum a posteriori in 3D. Landmarks were defined on each MR image, and templates were constructed under different settings, i.e., based on different tissue class images [gray matter (GM), white matter (WM), and GM + WM] and regularization forms (“linear elastic energy,” “membrane energy,” and “bending energy”). Registration accuracy for MRI and PET templates was evaluated by means of the distance between landmark coordinates. Results: The best MRI template was constructed based on gray and white matter images and the regularization form linear elastic energy. In this case, most distances between landmark coordinates were <1 mm. Accordingly, MRI-based spatial normalization was most accurate, but results of the PET-based spatial normalization were quite comparable. Conclusions: Image registration using DARTEL provides a standardized and automatic framework for small animal brain data analysis. The authors were able to show that this method works with high reliability and validity. Using DARTEL

New Perspectives on Spontaneous Brain Activity: Dynamic Networks and Energy Matter.

Science.gov (United States)

Tozzi, Arturo; Zare, Marzieh; Benasich, April A

2016-01-01

free-energy", a theoretical construct pertaining to probability and information theory which allows explanation of unexplored features of spontaneous brain activity.

Duality transformation of a spontaneously broken gauge theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mizrachi, L.

1981-04-01

Duality transformation for a spontaneously broken gauge theory is constructed in the CDS gauge (xsub(μ)Asub(μ)sup(a)=0). The dual theory is expressed in terms of dual potentials which satisfy the same gauge condition, but with g→ 1 /g. Generally the theory is not self dual but in the weak coupling region (small g), self duality is found for the subgroup which is not spontaneously broken or in regions where monopoles and vortices are concentrated (in agreement with t'Hooft's ideas that monopoles and vortices in the Georgi-Glashow model make it self dual). In the strong coupling regime a systematic strong coupling expansion can be written. For this region the dual theory is generally not local gauge invariant, but it is invariant under global gauge transformations. (author)

A temperature-compensated high spatial resolution distributed strain sensor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Belal, Mohammad; Cho, Yuh Tat; Ibsen, Morten; Newson, Trevor P

2010-01-01

We propose and demonstrate a scheme which utilizes the temperature dependence of spontaneous Raman scattering to provide temperature compensation for a high spatial resolution Brillouin frequency-based strain sensor

Spatial Variation of Phosphorous Retention Capacity in Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetlands: Effect of Wetland Type and Inflow Loading.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guangwei Yu

Full Text Available For verification of spatial distribution of phosphorous retention capacity in constructed wetlands systems(CWs, two horizontal subsurface flow(HSSF CWs and two vertical subsurface flow(VSSF CWs, using sand as substrate and Typha latifolia as wetland plants, were constructed and put into use for synthetic wastewater treatment. Five months later, significant spatial variations of TP and inorganic phosphorus(Ca-P, Fe-P and Al-P were observed, which were found to be greatly affected by CWs type and hydraulic loading. The results revealed that though spatial distribution of Fe-P and Al-P displayed a similar order of substrate content as "rhizosphere" > "near-rhizosphere" > "non-rhizosphere" and "inflow section" > "outflow section" regardless of types and loading, the distribution of Ca-P was positively correlated to that of Fe-P and Al-P in HSSF CWs, while negative correlation was shown in VSSF CWs. As a result, TP spatial distribution in HSSF CWs demonstrated a greater dissimilarity than that in VSSF CWs. For HSSF CWs with low hydraulic loading, the lowest TP content was found in non-rhizosphere substrate of outflow section, while the highest one was discovered in rhizonsphere substrate of inflow section. The values in 6 parts of areas ranged from 0.138 g·kg-1 to 2.710 g·kg-1, which also were from -33.5% to 1209% compared to the control value. On contrast, spatial difference of TP content in substrates of VSSF CWs was insignificant, with a variation ranging from 0.776 g·kg-1 to 1.080 g·kg-1, that was 275% to 421% higher than the control value. In addition, when hydraulic loading was increased, TP content in VSSF CWs sharply decreased, ranging from 0.210 g·kg-1 to 0.634 g·kg-1. Meanwhile, dissimilarity of TP spatial distribution in HSSF CWs was reduced, with TP content ranging from 0.258 g·kg-1 to 2.237 g·kg-1. The results suggested that P spatial distribution should be taken into account for CWs design and operation.

On the membrane paradigm and spontaneous breaking of horizon BMS symmetries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eling, Christopher; Oz, Yaron

2016-01-01

We consider a BMS-type symmetry action on isolated horizons in asymptotically flat spacetimes. From the viewpoint of the non-relativistic field theory on a horizon membrane, supertranslations shift the field theory spatial momentum. The latter is related by a Ward identity to the particle number symmetry current and is spontaneously broken. The corresponding Goldstone boson shifts the horizon angular momentum and can be detected quantum mechanically. Similarly, area preserving superrotations are spontaneously broken on the horizon membrane and we identify the corresponding gapless modes. In asymptotically AdS spacetimes we study the BMS-type symmetry action on the horizon in a holographic superfluid dual. We identify the horizon supertranslation Goldstone boson as the holographic superfluid Goldstone mode.

Does Spontaneous Favorability to Power (vs. Universalism) Values Predict Spontaneous Prejudice and Discrimination?

Science.gov (United States)

Souchon, Nicolas; Maio, Gregory R; Hanel, Paul H P; Bardin, Brigitte

2017-10-01

We conducted five studies testing whether an implicit measure of favorability toward power over universalism values predicts spontaneous prejudice and discrimination. Studies 1 (N = 192) and 2 (N = 86) examined correlations between spontaneous favorability toward power (vs. universalism) values, achievement (vs. benevolence) values, and a spontaneous measure of prejudice toward ethnic minorities. Study 3 (N = 159) tested whether conditioning participants to associate power values with positive adjectives and universalism values with negative adjectives (or inversely) affects spontaneous prejudice. Study 4 (N = 95) tested whether decision bias toward female handball players could be predicted by spontaneous attitude toward power (vs. universalism) values. Study 5 (N = 123) examined correlations between spontaneous attitude toward power (vs. universalism) values, spontaneous importance toward power (vs. universalism) values, and spontaneous prejudice toward Black African people. Spontaneous positivity toward power (vs. universalism) values was associated with spontaneous negativity toward minorities and predicted gender bias in a decision task, whereas the explicit measures did not. These results indicate that the implicit assessment of evaluative responses attached to human values helps to model value-attitude-behavior relations. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Personality Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Working memory performance inversely predicts spontaneous delta and theta-band scaling relations.

Science.gov (United States)

Euler, Matthew J; Wiltshire, Travis J; Niermeyer, Madison A; Butner, Jonathan E

2016-04-15

Electrophysiological studies have strongly implicated theta-band activity in human working memory processes. Concurrently, work on spontaneous, non-task-related oscillations has revealed the presence of long-range temporal correlations (LRTCs) within sub-bands of the ongoing EEG, and has begun to demonstrate their functional significance. However, few studies have yet assessed the relation of LRTCs (also called scaling relations) to individual differences in cognitive abilities. The present study addressed the intersection of these two literatures by investigating the relation of narrow-band EEG scaling relations to individual differences in working memory ability, with a particular focus on the theta band. Fifty-four healthy adults completed standardized assessments of working memory and separate recordings of their spontaneous, non-task-related EEG. Scaling relations were quantified in each of the five classical EEG frequency bands via the estimation of the Hurst exponent obtained from detrended fluctuation analysis. A multilevel modeling framework was used to characterize the relation of working memory performance to scaling relations as a function of general scalp location in Cartesian space. Overall, results indicated an inverse relationship between both delta and theta scaling relations and working memory ability, which was most prominent at posterior sensors, and was independent of either spatial or individual variability in band-specific power. These findings add to the growing literature demonstrating the relevance of neural LRTCs for understanding brain functioning, and support a construct- and state-dependent view of their functional implications. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spontaneous high-gamma band activity reflects functional organization of auditory cortex in the awake macaque.

Science.gov (United States)

Fukushima, Makoto; Saunders, Richard C; Leopold, David A; Mishkin, Mortimer; Averbeck, Bruno B

2012-06-07

In the absence of sensory stimuli, spontaneous activity in the brain has been shown to exhibit organization at multiple spatiotemporal scales. In the macaque auditory cortex, responses to acoustic stimuli are tonotopically organized within multiple, adjacent frequency maps aligned in a caudorostral direction on the supratemporal plane (STP) of the lateral sulcus. Here, we used chronic microelectrocorticography to investigate the correspondence between sensory maps and spontaneous neural fluctuations in the auditory cortex. We first mapped tonotopic organization across 96 electrodes spanning approximately two centimeters along the primary and higher auditory cortex. In separate sessions, we then observed that spontaneous activity at the same sites exhibited spatial covariation that reflected the tonotopic map of the STP. This observation demonstrates a close relationship between functional organization and spontaneous neural activity in the sensory cortex of the awake monkey. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dynamic changes of intramural hematoma in patients with acute spontaneous internal carotid artery dissection.

Science.gov (United States)

Heldner, Mirjam R; Nedelcheva, Mila; Yan, Xin; Slotboom, Johannes; Mathier, Etienne; Hulliger, Justine; Verma, Rajeev K; Sturzenegger, Matthias; Jung, Simon; Bernasconi, Corrado; Arnold, Marcel; Wiest, Roland; Fischer, Urs

2015-08-01

We prospectively investigated temporal and spatial evolution of intramural hematomas in patients with acute spontaneous internal carotid artery dissection using repeated magnetic resonance imaging over six-months. The aim of the present study was to assess dynamic changes of intramural hematoma in patients with acute spontaneous internal carotid artery dissection at multiple follow-up time-points with T1w, PD/T2w, and magnetic resonance angiography. We performed serial multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging in 10 patients with spontaneous internal carotid artery dissection on admission, at days 1, 3, 7-14 and at months 1·5, 3, and 6. We calculated the volume and extension of the hyperintense intramural hematoma using T1w and PD/T2w fat suppressed sequences and assessed the degree of stenosis due to the hematoma using magnetic resonance angiography. Mean interval from symptom onset to first magnetic resonance imaging was two-days (SD 2·7). Two patients presented with ischemic stroke, three with transient ischemic attacks, and five with pain and local symptoms only. Nine patients had a transient increase of the intramural hematoma volume, mainly up to day 10 after symptom onset. Fifty percent had a transient increase in the degree of the internal carotid artery stenosis on MRA, one resulting in a temporary occlusion. Lesions older than one-week were predominantly characterized by a shift from iso- to hyperintese signal on T2w images. At three-month follow-up, intramural hematoma was no longer detectable in 80% of patients and had completely resolved in all patients after six-months. Spatial and temporal dynamics of intramural hematomas after spontaneous internal carotid artery dissection showed an early volume increase with concomitant progression of the internal carotid artery stenosis in 5 of 10 patients. Although spontaneous internal carotid artery dissection overall carries a good prognosis with spontaneous hematoma resorption in all our patients, early

Spontaneous intraparenchymal otogenic pneumocephalus presenting with abrupt onset of coma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scuotto, A.; Cappabianca, S.; Capasso, R.; Natale, M.; D'Oria, S.; Rotondo, M.

2016-01-01

We report a case of spontaneous otogenic pneumocephalus, manifesting with a rapid deterioration of consciousness level. A 37-year-old man presented a 3-days history of headache and fluctuant confusion. On admission the patient was neurologically intact except for temporo-spatial disorientation. Brain Computed Tomography (CT) scan showed a large air collection in the left temporal lobe, causing mass effect. Hyperpneumatisation of mastoid air cells was also noticed. Because of the abrupt onset of coma (Glasgow Coma Scale = 10), emergency surgical evacuation of tensive pneumocephalus was carried out. Postoperatively, the patient quickly regained a good level of consciousness and was headache-free. - Highlights: • Spontaneous otogenic pneumocephalus generally presents with subtle symptoms. • Sudden consciousness involvement is a rare onset condition. • Hyperpneumatisation of the petrous bone is a predisposing factor.

Spontaneous flocking in human groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Belz, Michael; Pyritz, Lennart W; Boos, Margarete

2013-01-01

Flocking behaviour, as a type of self-organised collective behaviour, is described as the spatial formation of groups without global control and explicit inter-individual recruitment signals. It can be observed in many animals, such as bird flocks, shoals or herds of ungulates. Spatial attraction between humans as the central component of flocking behaviour has been simulated in a number of seminal models but it has not been detected experimentally in human groups so far. The two other sub-processes of this self-organised collective movement - collision avoidance and alignment - are excluded or held constant respectively in this study. We created a computer-based, multi-agent game where human players, represented as black dots, moved on a virtual playground. The participants were deprived of social cues about each other and could neither communicate verbally nor nonverbally. They played two games: (1) Single Game, where other players were invisible, and (2) Joint Game, where each player could see players' positions in a local radius around himself/herself. We found that individuals approached their neighbours spontaneously if their positions were visible, leading to less spatial dispersion of the whole group compared to moving alone. We conclude that human groups show the basic component of flocking behaviour without being explicitly instructed or rewarded to do so. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Polariton Chimeras: Bose-Einstein Condensates with Intrinsic Chaoticity and Spontaneous Long-Range Ordering

Science.gov (United States)

Gavrilov, S. S.

2018-01-01

The system of cavity polaritons driven by a plane electromagnetic wave is found to undergo the spontaneous breaking of spatial symmetry, which results in a lifted phase locking with respect to the driving field and, consequently, in the possibility of internal ordering. In particular, periodic spin and intensity patterns arise in polariton wires; they exhibit strong long-range order and can serve as media for signal transmission. Such patterns have the properties of dynamical chimeras: they are formed spontaneously in perfectly homogeneous media and can be partially chaotic. The reported new mechanism of chimera formation requires neither time-delayed feedback loops nor nonlocal interactions.

Developing spontaneity and well-being in women victims of domestic violence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ines Testoni

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper we present the results of the last stage of the research project Empower Daphne that involved the participation of six countries belonging to the EU in two phases: I validation of the theoretical model on which basis rests the construct of well-being and spontaneity; II analysis of Morenian psychodrama intervention efficacy. 407 university students were part of the non-clinical sample in the first phase and 136 women victims of domestic violence made up the clinical sample for the second phase. During the six month the women took part in psychodramatic sessions, together with individual interviews. At the beginning and the end of the six month, a questionnaire was administered consisting of a well-being and a spontaneity scales. In the article we present the results that compare well-being and spontaneity between clinical and non-clinical samples, and between the clinical cut-off scores highlighted in the literature and the scores of clinical sample. The findings demonstrate interesting differences between two sample: observed lower levels of spontaneity and well-being in women victims of domestic violence, both before and after the psychodramatic intervention.

Spontaneous formation of densely packed shear bands of rotating fragments.

Science.gov (United States)

Åström, J A; Timonen, J

2012-05-01

Appearance of self-similar space-filling ball bearings has been suggested to provide the explanation for seismic gaps, shear weakness, and lack of detectable frictional heat formation in mature tectonic faults (shear zones). As the material in a shear zone fractures and grinds, it could be thought to eventually form a conformation that allows fragments to largely roll against each other without much sliding. This type of space-filling "ball bearing" can be constructed artificially, but so far how such delicate structures may appear spontaneously has remained unexplained. It is demonstrated here that first-principles simulations of granular packing with fragmenting grains indeed display spontaneous formation of shear bands with fragment conformations very similar to those of densely packed ball bearings.

Spontaneous acute spinal subdural hematoma: spontaneous recovery from severe paraparesis--case report and review.

Science.gov (United States)

Payer, Michael; Agosti, Reto

2010-11-01

Spontaneous idiopathic acute spinal subdural hematomas are highly exceptional. Neurological symptoms are usually severe, and rapid diagnosis with MRI is mandatory. Surgical evacuation has frequently been used therapeutically; however, spontaneous recovery in mild cases has also been reported. We present a case of spontaneous recovery from severe paraparesis after spontaneous acute SSDH, and review the English-speaking literature.

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A FOREST SPATIAL DATABASE: AN APPLICATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Turan Sönmez

2006-11-01

Full Text Available General Directorate of Forests (GDF has not yet created the spatial forest database to manage forest and catch the developed countries in forestry. The lack of spatial forest database results in collection of the spatial data redundancy, communication problems among the forestry organizations. Also it causes Turkish forestry to be backward of informatics’ era. To solve these problems; GDF should establish spatial forest database supported Geographic Information System (GIS. To design the spatial database, supported GIS, which provides accurate, on time and current data/info for decision makers and operators in forestry, and to develop sample interface program to apply and monitor classical forest management plans is paramount in contemporary forest management planning process. This research is composed of three major stages: (i spatial rototype database design considering required by the three hierarchical organizations of GDF (regional directorate of forests, forest enterprise, and territorial division, (ii user interface program developed to apply and monitor classical management plans based on the designed database, (iii the implementation of the designed database and its user interface in Artvin Central Planning Unit.

Spontaneous emission spectrum from a V-type three-level atom in a double-band photonic crystal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Han Zhuang; Tang Sing Hai; Dong Po; He Jun

2002-01-01

The spontaneous emission spectrum from a V-type three-level atom embedded in a double-band photonic band gap (PBG) material has been investigated for the first time. Most interestingly it is shown that there is not only a black dark line, but also a narrow spontaneous line near the edges of the double photonic band. The positions of the dark line and narrow spontaneous line are near the transition from an empty upper level to a lower level. The lines stem from destructive and constructive quantum interferences, which induce population transfer between the two upper levels, in the PBG reservoirs. The effects of system parameters on the interference have been discussed in detail

Frequency shifts in spontaneous emission from two interacting atoms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

James, D.F.V.

1993-01-01

A model radiating system consisting of two atoms in close proximity is analyzed. This system demonstrates the influence of spatial coherence on the spectrum of the radiation field. Explicit expressions for the degree of coherence, the source spectrum, and the spectrum of the radiation field are derived. The results are discussed in terms of Wolf's work [Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 1370 (1986)] on this effect, which can be considered in terms of a multiple-atom analog of the effects of radiation reaction on a single atom, i.e., spontaneous decay and the Lamb shift

Posed versus spontaneous facial expressions are modulated by opposite cerebral hemispheres.

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, Elliott D; Pulusu, Vinay K

2013-05-01

Clinical research has indicated that the left face is more expressive than the right face, suggesting that modulation of facial expressions is lateralized to the right hemisphere. The findings, however, are controversial because the results explain, on average, approximately 4% of the data variance. Using high-speed videography, we sought to determine if movement-onset asymmetry was a more powerful research paradigm than terminal movement asymmetry. The results were very robust, explaining up to 70% of the data variance. Posed expressions began overwhelmingly on the right face whereas spontaneous expressions began overwhelmingly on the left face. This dichotomy was most robust for upper facial expressions. In addition, movement-onset asymmetries did not predict terminal movement asymmetries, which were not significantly lateralized. The results support recent neuroanatomic observations that upper versus lower facial movements have different forebrain motor representations and recent behavioral constructs that posed versus spontaneous facial expressions are modulated preferentially by opposite cerebral hemispheres and that spontaneous facial expressions are graded rather than non-graded movements. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

An evaluation of the spontaneous fission prompt neutron spectrum of 252Cf

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bojkov, G.S.; Yurevich, V.I.

1987-01-01

An evaluation of the spontaneous fission prompt neutron spectrum of 252 Cf from 1 keV to 20 MeV is described. Variance-covariance matrices for a number of recent experimental data sets were constructed and used to evaluate the neutron spectrum following a Bayesian procedure. The evaluated spectrum is compared with various experimental and theoretical representations. (author)

Assessing the associations among trait and state levels of deliberate and spontaneous mind wandering.

Science.gov (United States)

Seli, Paul; Risko, Evan F; Smilek, Daniel

2016-04-01

Recent research has demonstrated that mind wandering can be subdivided into spontaneous and deliberate types, and this distinction has been found to hold at both the trait and state levels. However, to date, no attempts have been made to link trait-level spontaneous and deliberate mind wandering with state-level assessments of these two subtypes of mind wandering. Here we evaluated whether trait-level deliberate and spontaneous mind wandering map onto state levels of these subtypes of mind wandering. Results showed correspondence between trait-level reports of spontaneous and deliberate mind wandering and their state-level counterparts, indicating that people's reports on the intentionality of their mind wandering in the laboratory correspond to their reports of the intentionality of mind wandering in everyday life. Thus, the trait- and state-level scales of mind wandering were found to validate each other: Whereas the state-level measures provided some construct validity for the trait-level measures, the trait-level measures indicated that the state-level measures may be generalizable to everyday situations. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Spontaneous external gallbladder perforation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Noeldge, G.; Wimmer, B.; Kirchner, R.

1981-01-01

Spontaneous perforation of the gallbladder is one complication of cholelithiasis. There is a greater occurence of free perforation in the peritoneal cavity with bilary pertonitis, followed by the perforation into the stomach, small intestine and colon. A single case of the nowadays rare spontaneous perforation in and through the abdominal wall will be reported. Spontaneous gallbladder perforation appears nearly asymptomatic in its clinical course because of absent biliary peritonitis. (orig.) [de

Exploration, anxiety, and spatial memory in transgenic anophthalmic mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Buhot, M C; Dubayle, D; Malleret, G; Javerzat, S; Segu, L

2001-04-01

Contradictory results are found in the literature concerning the role of vision in the perception of space or in spatial navigation, in part because of the lack of murine models of total blindness used so far. The authors evaluated the spatial abilities of anophthalmic transgenic mice. These mice did not differ qualitatively from their wild-type littermates in general locomotor activity, spontaneous alternation, object exploration, or anxiety, but their level of exploratory activity was generally lower. In the spatial version of the water maze, they displayed persistent thigmotaxic behavior and showed severe spatial learning impairments. However, their performances improved with training, suggesting that they may have acquired a rough representation of the platform position. These results suggest that modalities other than vision enable some degree of spatial processing in proximal and structured spaces but that vision is critical for accurate spatial navigation.

Definition of spontaneous reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schindler, K.

1984-01-01

The author discusses his view of driven versus spontaneous. There is a close link between ''spontaneous'' and ''instability.'' One of the prominent examples for instability is the thermal convection instability. Just to remind you, if you heat a fluid layer from below, it takes a certain Rayleigh number to make it unstable. Beyond the onset point you find qualitatively new features. That is called ''spontaneous,'' and this is a bit more than semantics. It's a new qualitative property that appears and it is spontaneous although we have an energy flux through the system. It's a misconception, to call this ''driven'' pointing at the energy flux through it. Of course, the convection would not exist without this energy flux. But what makes it ''spontaneous'' is that without any particular external signal, a new qualitative feature appears. And this is what is called an ''instability'' and ''spontaneous.'' From these considerations the author got a little reassured of what distinction should be made in the field of the magnetosphere. If we have a smooth energy transport into the magnetosphere and suddenly we have this qualitatively new feature (change of B-topology) coming up; then, using this terminology we don't have a choice other than calling this spontaneous or unstable, if you like. If we ''tell'' the system where it should make its neutral line and where it should make its plasmoids, then, it is driven. And this provides a very clear-cut observational distinction. The author emphasizes the difference he sees is a qualitative difference, not only a quantitative one

MGlu5 antagonism impairs exploration and memory of spatial and non-spatial stimuli in rats

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christoffersen, Gert Rene Juul; Simonyi, Agnes; Schachtman, Todd R.

2008-01-01

and it was found that: 1) Locomotion during exploration of spatial environments and exploration time at novel objects were reduced by i.p. but not by prelimbic administration of MPEP, 2) spatial short-term memory was impaired in cross-maze and object discrimination was reduced after both types of administration, 3......) long-term retention of spatial conditioning in the cross-maze was inhibited after i.p. applications which 4) also inhibited spontaneous alternation performance during maze-exploration. Reduced exploratory locomotion and exploration time after i.p. injections may have contributed to the observed......Metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 5 (mGlu5) has been implicated in memory processing in some but not all learning tasks.  The reason why this receptor is involved in some tasks but not in others remains to be determined.  The present experiments using rats examined effects of the mGlu5...

When gestures show us the way: Co-speech gestures selectively facilitate navigation and spatial memory.

OpenAIRE

Galati, Alexia; Weisberg, Steven M.; Newcombe, Nora S.; Avraamides, Marios N.

2017-01-01

How does gesturing during route learning relate to subsequent spatial performance? We examined the relationship between gestures produced spontaneously while studying route directions and spatial representations of the navigated environment. Participants studied route directions, then navigated those routes from memory in a virtual environment, and finally had their memory of the environment assessed. We found that, for navigators with low spatial perspective-taking pe...

Spatial Outlier Detection of CO2 Monitoring Data Based on Spatial Local Outlier Factor

OpenAIRE

Liu Xin; Zhang Shaoliang; Zheng Pulin

2015-01-01

Spatial local outlier factor (SLOF) algorithm was adopted in this study for spatial outlier detection because of the limitations of the traditional static threshold detection. Based on the spatial characteristics of CO2 monitoring data obtained in the carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, the K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN) graph was constructed using the latitude and longitude information of the monitoring points to identify the spatial neighbourhood of the monitoring points. Then ...

Quantitative tradeoffs between spatial, temporal, and thermometric resolution of nonresonant Raman thermometry for dynamic experiments.

Science.gov (United States)

McGrane, Shawn D; Moore, David S; Goodwin, Peter M; Dattelbaum, Dana M

2014-01-01

The ratio of Stokes to anti-Stokes nonresonant spontaneous Raman can provide an in situ thermometer that is noncontact, independent of any material specific parameters or calibrations, can be multiplexed spatially with line imaging, and can be time resolved for dynamic measurements. However, spontaneous Raman cross sections are very small, and thermometric measurements are often limited by the amount of laser energy that can be applied without damaging the sample or changing its temperature appreciably. In this paper, we quantitatively detail the tradeoff space between spatial, temporal, and thermometric accuracy measurable with spontaneous Raman. Theoretical estimates are pinned to experimental measurements to form realistic expectations of the resolution tradeoffs appropriate to various experiments. We consider the effects of signal to noise, collection efficiency, laser heating, pulsed laser ablation, and blackbody emission as limiting factors, provide formulae to help choose optimal conditions and provide estimates relevant to planning experiments along with concrete examples for single-shot measurements.

Ordered patterns of cell shape and orientational correlation during spontaneous cell migration.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yusuke T Maeda

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: In the absence of stimuli, most motile eukaryotic cells move by spontaneously coordinating cell deformation with cell movement in the absence of stimuli. Yet little is known about how cells change their own shape and how cells coordinate the deformation and movement. Here, we investigated the mechanism of spontaneous cell migration by using computational analyses. METHODOLOGY: We observed spontaneously migrating Dictyostelium cells in both a vegetative state (round cell shape and slow motion and starved one (elongated cell shape and fast motion. We then extracted regular patterns of morphological dynamics and the pattern-dependent systematic coordination with filamentous actin (F-actin and cell movement by statistical dynamic analyses. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We found that Dictyostelium cells in both vegetative and starved states commonly organize their own shape into three ordered patterns, elongation, rotation, and oscillation, in the absence of external stimuli. Further, cells inactivated for PI3-kinase (PI3K and/or PTEN did not show ordered patterns due to the lack of spatial control in pseudopodial formation in both the vegetative and starved states. We also found that spontaneous polarization was achieved in starved cells by asymmetric localization of PTEN and F-actin. This breaking of the symmetry of protein localization maintained the leading edge and considerably enhanced the persistence of directed migration, and overall random exploration was ensured by switching among the different ordered patterns. Our findings suggest that Dictyostelium cells spontaneously create the ordered patterns of cell shape mediated by PI3K/PTEN/F-actin and control the direction of cell movement by coordination with these patterns even in the absence of external stimuli.

Spontaneous intracranial hypotension.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Fullam, L

2012-01-31

INTRODUCTION: Spontaneous\\/primary intracranial hypotension is characterised by orthostatic headache and is associated with characteristic magnetic resonance imaging findings. CASE REPORT: We present a case report of a patient with typical symptoms and classical radiological images. DISCUSSION: Spontaneous intracranial hypotension is an under-recognised cause of headache and can be diagnosed by history of typical orthostatic headache and findings on MRI brain.

Localization of the relative position of two atoms induced by spontaneous emission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zheng, L.; Li, C.; Li, Y.; Sun, C.P.

2005-01-01

We reexamine the back-action of emitted photons on the wave packet evolution about the relative position of two cold atoms. We show that photon recoil resulting from the spontaneous emission can induce the localization of the relative position of the two atoms through the entanglement between the spatial motion of individual atoms and their emitted photons. The obtained result provides a more realistic model for the analysis of the environment-induced localization of a macroscopic object

Bogoliubov condensation of gluons and spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking in QCD

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pervushin, V.N.; Roepke, G.; Volkov, M.K.; Blaschke, D.; Pavel, H.P.; Litvin, A.

1995-08-01

The ''squeezed'' representation of commutation relations for gluon fields in QCD is formulated as the mathematical tool for the description of the gluon condensate. We first consider λφ 4 theory and show that the ''squeezed'' Bogoliubov condensate can lead to the spontaneous appearance of a mass. Using the ''squeezed'' representation, we show that in the non-Abelian theory spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking (SGSB) and the appearance of a constituent mass of gluons can be described. We construct a projector onto the oscillator - like variables, for which the ''squeezed'' representation is valid, by using the formal solution of the Gauss equation instead of fixing a gauge. We discuss the effects of the SGSB and present as an application of the approach the calculation of the gluon mass from the difference of the η' and the η - meson masses. (author). 27 refs

[Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis].

Science.gov (United States)

Velkey, Bálint; Vitális, Eszter; Vitális, Zsuzsanna

2017-01-01

Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis occurs most commonly in cirrhotic patients with ascites. Pathogens get into the circulation by intestinal translocation and colonize in peritoneal fluid. Diagnosis of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis is based on elevated polymorphonuclear leukocyte count in the ascites (>0,25 G/L). Ascites culture is often negative but aids to get information about antibiotic sensitivity in positive cases. Treatment in stable patient can be intravenous then orally administrated ciprofloxacin or amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, while in severe cases intravenous III. generation cephalosporin. Nosocomial spontaneous bacterial peritonitis often caused by Gram-positive bacteria and multi-resistant pathogens can also be expected thus carbapenem should be the choice of the empiric treatment. Antibiotic prophylaxis should be considered. Norfloxacin is used most commonly, but changes are expected due to increase in quinolone resistance. As a primary prophylaxis, a short-term antibiotic treatment is recommended after gastrointestinal bleeding for 5 days, while long-term prophylaxis is for patients with low ascites protein, and advanced disease (400 mg/day). Secondary prophylaxis is recommended for all patients recovered from spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. Due to increasing antibiotic use of antibiotics prophylaxis is debated to some degree. Orv. Hetil., 2017, 158(2), 50-57.

Language-specific dysgraphia in Korean patients with right brain stroke: influence of unilateral spatial neglect.

Science.gov (United States)

Jang, Dae-Hyun; Kim, Min-Wook; Park, Kyoung Ha; Lee, Jae Woo

2015-03-01

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between Korean language-specific dysgraphia and unilateral spatial neglect in 31 right brain stroke patients. All patients were tested for writing errors in spontaneous writing, dictation, and copying tests. The dysgraphia was classified into visuospatial omission, visuospatial destruction, syllabic tilting, stroke omission, stroke addition, and stroke tilting. Twenty-three (77.4%) of the 31 patients made dysgraphia and 18 (58.1%) demonstrated unilateral spatial neglect. The visuospatial omission was the most common dysgraphia followed by stroke addition and omission errors. The highest number of errors was made in the copying and the least was in the spontaneous writing test. Patients with unilateral spatial neglect made a significantly higher number of dysgraphia in the copying test than those without. We identified specific dysgraphia features such as a right side space omission and a vertical stroke addition in Korean right brain stroke patients. In conclusion, unilateral spatial neglect influences copy writing system of Korean language in patients with right brain stroke.

Genetics Home Reference: primary spontaneous pneumothorax

Science.gov (United States)

... Home Health Conditions Primary spontaneous pneumothorax Primary spontaneous pneumothorax Printable PDF Open All Close All Enable Javascript ... view the expand/collapse boxes. Description Primary spontaneous pneumothorax is an abnormal accumulation of air in the ...

SPONTANEOUS POTENTIAL INVESTIGATIONS IN SEMENIC MOUNTAINS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. URDEA

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Spontaneous Potential Investigations in Semenic Mountains. The use of geophysical methods such as that of Spontaneous Potential (SP to investigate areas where the geomorphological processes occur, has the role to identify less visible processes as for example subcutaneous erosion or piping, subsoil water drainage and finding specific spatial differences of these processes. Comparative study of these sites allows correlation between geomorphological factors, soil and climate, but also to observe the evolution of subsurface erosion or underground water infiltration over time. During this investigation a series of mesh grids have been made in areas with different characteristics (lithology, pedology, slope, exposition, etc. at different time periods in order to spot and analyse the change in data in the chosen sites, various conditions given. Values expressed in millivolts (mV obtained by the Spontaneous Potential method have been put into an algorithm for interpolation looking to yield a pattern of values of what is happening in the soil during that period of time. Thus, in the autumn, the investigation site at the nivation niche Baia Vulturilor, returned values of between -22.6 mV and 65.6 mV, while in spring in the same site, values were within the range of -14.4 mV / 30.1 mV. On the other hand, on the site of the cryopediment under the Semenic peak, in the spring, return values ranged from -40.4 mV and -1.1 mV. A particular case is that of the glacis near Piatra Goznei peak; in this area anthropogenic electricity influences on soil can be found. Based on some models a trend of water movement in the soil could be established, this depending heavily on the amount of precipitation infiltration, local lithology, depth of soil and their structure, and evapotranspiration process. Water movement in the soil may be a correlation with sediment movement in soil horizons and instability manifested on the slopes.

Exploring the building blocks of social cognition: spontaneous agency perception and visual perspective taking in autism.

Science.gov (United States)

Zwickel, Jan; White, Sarah J; Coniston, Devorah; Senju, Atsushi; Frith, Uta

2011-10-01

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders have highly characteristic impairments in social interaction and this is true also for those with high functioning autism or Asperger syndrome (AS). These social cognitive impairments are far from global and it seems likely that some of the building blocks of social cognition are intact. In our first experiment, we investigated whether high functioning adults who also had a diagnosis of AS would be similar to control participants in terms of their eye movements when watching animated triangles in short movies that normally evoke mentalizing. They were. Our second experiment using the same movies, tested whether both groups would spontaneously adopt the visuo-spatial perspective of a triangle protagonist. They did. At the same time autistic participants differed in their verbal accounts of the story line underlying the movies, confirming their specific difficulties in on-line mentalizing. In spite of this difficulty, two basic building blocks of social cognition appear to be intact: spontaneous agency perception and spontaneous visual perspective taking.

Spontaneous ignition characteristics of coal in a large-scale furnace: An experimental and numerical investigation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wen, Hu; Yu, Zhijin; Deng, Jun; Zhai, Xiaowei

2017-01-01

Highlights: • Three coal spontaneous combustion coupled models based on various flow equations were constructed and compared. • The airflow behavior in loose coal should be defined as a Brinkman flow. • The self-heating of coal in a large-scale reactor was numerically reappeared. • The effect of heat dissipated conditions on temperature profiles of broken coal was presented. - Abstract: A comprehensive understanding of the spontaneous combustion characteristics of coal in various surroundings is necessary for developing reliable test platform and predictive models. In this study, the characteristics of oxidation and self-heating combining various gas flow equations in loose coal were investigated separately and used to simulate the experimental procedure of spontaneous combustion. The main focus was to investigate the effect of thermal boundary on temperature profiles as well as spontaneous combustion period. The results showed that the numerical approach was validated by comparison with the test data. Furthermore, the model based upon Brinkman equation showed a higher accuracy, which indicated that airflow behavior influences the balances of coal oxidation and heat dissipation, thus impacts the temperature profiles of loose coal. The areas of high temperature zones would be evidently expanded and the spontaneous ignition time would be significantly accelerated if the thermal exchange between the coal and its surroundings decreased. Our results, especially for the field of engineering, have substantial effects for grasping and controlling coal spontaneous combustion disaster.

Wess-Zumino model as linear σ-model of spontaneously broken conformal and OSp (1,4)-supersymmetries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ivanov, E.A.

1979-01-01

The massless Wess-Zumino model is shown to exhibit the spontaneous breaking of global conformal and orthosymplectic supersymmetries on account of the Fubini-type classical solutions to the equations of motion. The group structure of spontaneously broken phase is studied and its particle spectrum is analyzed. The little group of the ground state is found to be the graded subgroup OSp(1,4) of the conformal supergroup. The symmetry with respect to another OSp(1,4) subgroup (OSp(1,4))Ois broken to (2,3)-symmetry with emergence of massive Goldstone fermion. The superfield Weyl transformation is defined and with its help the model action is rewritten in terms of superspace OSp(1,4)/O(1,3), spinorial extension of anti de Sitter space. In such a representation the spontaneously broken phase admits the standard σ-model interpretation. We also construct the OSp(1,4)-analog of the massive Wess-Zumino model and examine its vacuum structure. An effect of the spontaneous breaking of P- and CP-parities with the strength related to anti de Sitter radius is found

Ziprasidone-induced spontaneous orgasm.

Science.gov (United States)

Boora, K; Chiappone, K; Dubovsky, S; Xu, J

2010-06-01

Neuroleptic treatment in schizophrenic patients has been associated with sexual dysfunction, including impotence and decreased libido. Spontaneous ejaculation without sexual arousal during typical antipsychotic treatment is a rare condition that has been described with zuclopentixol, trifluoperazine, and thiothixene. Here, we are reporting a case of spontaneous orgasm with ziprasidone in a bipolar patient. This patient began to repeatedly experience spontaneous sexual arousal and orgasm, which she had never experienced in the past. Ziprasidone might be causing an increase in sexual orgasm by 5-HT2 receptor antagonism, which preclinical evidence suggests that it facilitates dopamine release in the cortex.

Multicellular automaticity of cardiac cell monolayers: effects of density and spatial distribution of pacemaker cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duverger, James Elber; Boudreau-Béland, Jonathan; Le, Minh Duc; Comtois, Philippe

2014-01-01

Self-organization of pacemaker (PM) activity of interconnected elements is important to the general theory of reaction–diffusion systems as well as for applications such as PM activity in cardiac tissue to initiate beating of the heart. Monolayer cultures of neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVMs) are often used as experimental models in studies on cardiac electrophysiology. These monolayers exhibit automaticity (spontaneous activation) of their electrical activity. At low plated density, cells usually show a heterogeneous population consisting of PM and quiescent excitable cells (QECs). It is therefore highly probable that monolayers of NRVMs consist of a heterogeneous network of the two cell types. However, the effects of density and spatial distribution of the PM cells on spontaneous activity of monolayers remain unknown. Thus, a simple stochastic pattern formation algorithm was implemented to distribute PM and QECs in a binary-like 2D network. A FitzHugh–Nagumo excitable medium was used to simulate electrical spontaneous and propagating activity. Simulations showed a clear nonlinear dependency of spontaneous activity (occurrence and amplitude of spontaneous period) on the spatial patterns of PM cells. In most simulations, the first initiation sites were found to be located near the substrate boundaries. Comparison with experimental data obtained from cardiomyocyte monolayers shows important similarities in the position of initiation site activity. However, limitations in the model that do not reflect the complex beat-to-beat variation found in experiments indicate the need for a more realistic cardiomyocyte representation. (paper)

Multicellular automaticity of cardiac cell monolayers: effects of density and spatial distribution of pacemaker cells

Science.gov (United States)

Elber Duverger, James; Boudreau-Béland, Jonathan; Le, Minh Duc; Comtois, Philippe

2014-11-01

Self-organization of pacemaker (PM) activity of interconnected elements is important to the general theory of reaction-diffusion systems as well as for applications such as PM activity in cardiac tissue to initiate beating of the heart. Monolayer cultures of neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVMs) are often used as experimental models in studies on cardiac electrophysiology. These monolayers exhibit automaticity (spontaneous activation) of their electrical activity. At low plated density, cells usually show a heterogeneous population consisting of PM and quiescent excitable cells (QECs). It is therefore highly probable that monolayers of NRVMs consist of a heterogeneous network of the two cell types. However, the effects of density and spatial distribution of the PM cells on spontaneous activity of monolayers remain unknown. Thus, a simple stochastic pattern formation algorithm was implemented to distribute PM and QECs in a binary-like 2D network. A FitzHugh-Nagumo excitable medium was used to simulate electrical spontaneous and propagating activity. Simulations showed a clear nonlinear dependency of spontaneous activity (occurrence and amplitude of spontaneous period) on the spatial patterns of PM cells. In most simulations, the first initiation sites were found to be located near the substrate boundaries. Comparison with experimental data obtained from cardiomyocyte monolayers shows important similarities in the position of initiation site activity. However, limitations in the model that do not reflect the complex beat-to-beat variation found in experiments indicate the need for a more realistic cardiomyocyte representation.

Human Skin Constructs with Spatially Controlled Vasculature Using Primary and iPSC-Derived Endothelial Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Abaci, Hasan E; Guo, Zongyou; Coffman, Abigail; Gillette, Brian; Lee, Wen-Han; Sia, Samuel K; Christiano, Angela M

2016-07-01

Vascularization of engineered human skin constructs is crucial for recapitulation of systemic drug delivery and for their long-term survival, functionality, and viable engraftment. In this study, the latest microfabrication techniques are used and a novel bioengineering approach is established to micropattern spatially controlled and perfusable vascular networks in 3D human skin equivalents using both primary and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived endothelial cells. Using 3D printing technology makes it possible to control the geometry of the micropatterned vascular networks. It is verified that vascularized human skin equivalents (vHSEs) can form a robust epidermis and establish an endothelial barrier function, which allows for the recapitulation of both topical and systemic delivery of drugs. In addition, the therapeutic potential of vHSEs for cutaneous wounds on immunodeficient mice is examined and it is demonstrated that vHSEs can both promote and guide neovascularization during wound healing. Overall, this innovative bioengineering approach can enable in vitro evaluation of topical and systemic drug delivery as well as improve the potential of engineered skin constructs to be used as a potential therapeutic option for the treatment of cutaneous wounds. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Spontaneous emission in the presence of a realistically sized cylindrical waveguide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dung, Ho Trung

2016-01-01

Various quantities characterizing the spontaneous emission process of a dipole emitter including the emission rate and the emission pattern can be expressed in terms of the Green tensor of the surrounding environment. By expanding the Green tensor around some analytically known background one as a Born series, and truncating it under appropriate conditions, complicated boundaries can be tackled with ease. However, when the emitter is embedded in the medium, even the calculation of the first-order term in the Born series is problematic because of the presence of a singularity. We show how to eliminate this singularity for a medium of arbitrary size and shape by expanding around the bulk medium rather than vacuum. In the highly symmetric configuration of an emitter located on the axis of a realistically sized cylinder, it is shown that the singularity can be removed by changing the integral variables and then the order of integration. Using both methods, we investigate the spontaneous emission rate of an initially excited two-level dipole emitter, embedded in a realistically sized cylinder, which can be a common optical fiber in the long-length limit and a disk in the short-length limit. The spatial distribution of the emitted light is calculated using the Born-expansion approach, and local-field corrections to the spontaneous emission rate are briefly discussed. (paper)

Fresnel zone plate imaging of a 252Cf spontaneous fission source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stalker, K.T.; Hessel, K.R.

1976-11-01

The feasibility of coded aperture imaging for nuclear fuel motion monitoring is shown using Cf 252 spontaneous fission source. The theory of coded aperture imaging for Fresnel zone plate apertures is presented and design considerations for zone plate construction are discussed. Actual images are obtained which demonstrate a transverse resolution of 1.7 mm and a tomographic resolution of 1.5 millimeters. The capability of obtaining images through 12.7 mm of stainless steel is also shown

Spatiotemporal stability of neonatal rat cardiomyocyte monolayers spontaneous activity is dependent on the culture substrate.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonathan Boudreau-Béland

Full Text Available In native conditions, cardiac cells must continuously comply with diverse stimuli necessitating a perpetual adaptation. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS is commonly used in cell culture to study cellular response to changes in the mechanical environment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of using PDMS substrates on the properties of spontaneous activity of cardiomyocyte monolayer cultures. We compared PDMS to the gold standard normally used in culture: a glass substrate. Although mean frequency of spontaneous activity remained unaltered, incidence of reentrant activity was significantly higher in samples cultured on glass compared to PDMS substrates. Higher spatial and temporal instability of the spontaneous rate activation was found when cardiomyocytes were cultured on PDMS, and correlated with decreased connexin-43 and increased CaV3.1 and HCN2 mRNA levels. Compared to cultures on glass, cultures on PDMS were associated with the strongest response to isoproterenol and acetylcholine. These results reveal the importance of carefully selecting the culture substrate for studies involving mechanical stimulation, especially for tissue engineering or pharmacological high-throughput screening of cardiac tissue analog.

Visuo-spatial construction in patients with frontal and parietal lobe lesions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Himani Kashyap

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Visuospatial construction, traditionally viewed as a putative parietal function, also requires sustained attention, planning, organization strategies and error correction, and hence frontal lobe mediation. The relative contributions of the frontal and parietal lobes are poorly understood. To examine the contributions of parietal, frontal lobes, as well as right and left cerebral hemispheres to visuospatial construction. The Stick Construction Test for two-dimensional construction and the Block Construction Test for three-dimensional construction were administered pre-surgically to patients with lesions in the parietal lobe (n =9 and the frontal lobe (n=11, along with normal control subjects (n =20 matched to the patients on age (+/- 3 years, gender, education (+/- 3 years and handedness. The patients were significantly slower than the controls on both two-dimensional and three-dimensional tests. Patients with parietal lesions were slower than those with frontal lesions on the test of three-dimensional construction. Within each lobe patients with right and left sided lesions did not differ significantly. It appears that tests of three-dimensional construction might be most sensitive to visuospatial construction deficits. Visuospatial construction involves the mediation of both frontal and parietal lobes. The function does not appear to be lateralized. The networks arising from the parieto-occipital areas and projecting to the frontal cortices (e.g., occipito-frontal fasciculus may be the basis of the mediation of both lobes in visuospatial construction. The present findings need replication from studies with larger sample sizes.

Constructing the reduced dynamical models of interannual climate variability from spatial-distributed time series

Science.gov (United States)

Mukhin, Dmitry; Gavrilov, Andrey; Loskutov, Evgeny; Feigin, Alexander

2016-04-01

We suggest a method for empirical forecast of climate dynamics basing on the reconstruction of reduced dynamical models in a form of random dynamical systems [1,2] derived from observational time series. The construction of proper embedding - the set of variables determining the phase space the model works in - is no doubt the most important step in such a modeling, but this task is non-trivial due to huge dimension of time series of typical climatic fields. Actually, an appropriate expansion of observational time series is needed yielding the number of principal components considered as phase variables, which are to be efficient for the construction of low-dimensional evolution operator. We emphasize two main features the reduced models should have for capturing the main dynamical properties of the system: (i) taking into account time-lagged teleconnections in the atmosphere-ocean system and (ii) reflecting the nonlinear nature of these teleconnections. In accordance to these principles, in this report we present the methodology which includes the combination of a new way for the construction of an embedding by the spatio-temporal data expansion and nonlinear model construction on the basis of artificial neural networks. The methodology is aplied to NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data including fields of sea level pressure, geopotential height, and wind speed, covering Northern Hemisphere. Its efficiency for the interannual forecast of various climate phenomena including ENSO, PDO, NAO and strong blocking event condition over the mid latitudes, is demonstrated. Also, we investigate the ability of the models to reproduce and predict the evolution of qualitative features of the dynamics, such as spectral peaks, critical transitions and statistics of extremes. This research was supported by the Government of the Russian Federation (Agreement No. 14.Z50.31.0033 with the Institute of Applied Physics RAS) [1] Y. I. Molkov, E. M. Loskutov, D. N. Mukhin, and A. M. Feigin, "Random

Spontaneous rib fractures.

Science.gov (United States)

Katrancioglu, Ozgur; Akkas, Yucel; Arslan, Sulhattin; Sahin, Ekber

2015-07-01

Other than trauma, rib fracture can occur spontaneously due to a severe cough or sneeze. In this study, patients with spontaneous rib fractures were analyzed according to age, sex, underlying pathology, treatment, and complications. Twelve patients who presented between February 2009 and February 2011 with spontaneous rib fracture were reviewed retrospectively. The patients' data were evaluated according to anamnesis, physical examination, and chest radiographs. The ages of the patients ranged from 34 to 77 years (mean 55.91 ± 12.20 years), and 7 (58.4%) were male. All patients had severe cough and chest pain. The fractures were most frequently between 4th and 9th ribs; multiple rib fractures were detected in 5 (41.7%) patients. Eight (66.7%) patients had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 2 (16.7%) had bronchial asthma, and 2 (16.7%) had osteoporosis. Bone densitometry revealed a high risk of bone fracture in all patients. Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or bronchial asthma had been treated with high-dose steroids for over a year. Spontaneous rib fracture due to severe cough may occur in patients with osteoporosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or bronchial asthma, receiving long-term steroid therapy. If these patients have severe chest pain, chest radiography should be performed to check for bone lesions. © The Author(s) 2015.

Surface-plasmon-induced modification on the spontaneous emission spectrum via subwavelength-confined anisotropic Purcell factor.

Science.gov (United States)

Gu, Ying; Wang, Luojia; Ren, Pan; Zhang, Junxiang; Zhang, Tiancai; Martin, Olivier J F; Gong, Qihuang

2012-05-09

The mechanism of using the anisotropic Purcell factor to control the spontaneous emission linewidths in a four-level atom is theoretically demonstrated; if the polarization angle bisector of the two dipole moments lies along the axis of large/small Purcell factor, destructive/constructive interference narrows/widens the fluorescence center spectral lines. Large anisotropy of the Purcell factor, confined in the subwavelength optical mode volume, leads to rapid spectral line narrowing of atom approaching a metallic nanowire, nanoscale line width pulsing following periodically varying decay rates near a periodic metallic nanostructure, and dramatic modification on the spontaneous emission spectrum near a custom-designed resonant plasmon nanostructure. The combined system opens a good perspective for applications in ultracompact active quantum devices.

Relativistic Hydrodynamics of Color-Flavor Locking Phase with Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

ZHANG Sun; WANG Fan

2004-01-01

We study the hydrodynamics of color-flavor locking phase of three flavors of light quarks in high density QCD with spontaneous symmetry breaking. The basic hydrodynamic equations are presented based on the Poisson bracket method and the Goldstone phonon and the thermo phonon are compared. The dissipative equations are constructed in the frame of the first-order theory and all the transport coefficients are also defined, which could be looked on as the general case including the Landau's theory and the Eckart's theory

Research on geo-ontology construction based on spatial affairs

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Bin; Liu, Jiping; Shi, Lihong

2008-12-01

Geo-ontology, a kind of domain ontology, is used to make the knowledge, information and data of concerned geographical science in the abstract to form a series of single object or entity with common cognition. These single object or entity can compose a specific system in some certain way and can be disposed on conception and given specific definition at the same time. Ultimately, these above-mentioned worked results can be expressed in some manners of formalization. The main aim of constructing geo-ontology is to get the knowledge of the domain of geography, and provide the commonly approbatory vocabularies in the domain, as well as give the definite definition about these geographical vocabularies and mutual relations between them in the mode of formalization at different hiberarchy. Consequently, the modeling tool of conception model of describing geographic Information System at the hiberarchy of semantic meaning and knowledge can be provided to solve the semantic conception of information exchange in geographical space and make them possess the comparatively possible characters of accuracy, maturity and universality, etc. In fact, some experiments have been made to validate geo-ontology. During the course of studying, Geo-ontology oriented to flood can be described and constructed by making the method based on geo-spatial affairs to serve the governmental departments at all levels to deal with flood. Thereinto, intelligent retrieve and service based on geoontology of disaster are main functions known from the traditional manner by using keywords. For instance, the function of dealing with disaster information based on geo-ontology can be provided when a supposed flood happened in a certain city. The correlative officers can input some words, such as "city name, flood", which have been realized semantic label, to get the information they needed when they browse different websites. The information, including basic geographical information and flood distributing

The Evolution of Spatial Representation During Complex Visual Data Analysis: Knowing When and How to be Exact

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Schunn, Christian D; Saner, Lelyn D; Trafton, J. G; Trickett, Susan B; Kirschenbaum, Susan K; Knepp, Michael; Shoup, Melanie

2005-01-01

... (weather forecasting, submarine target motion analysis, and fMRI data analysis). Internal spatial representations are coded from spontaneous gestures made during cued-recall summaries of problem solving activities...

Spontaneous generation of rapidly transmissible prions in transgenic mice expressing wild-type bank vole prion protein.

Science.gov (United States)

Watts, Joel C; Giles, Kurt; Stöhr, Jan; Oehler, Abby; Bhardwaj, Sumita; Grillo, Sunny K; Patel, Smita; DeArmond, Stephen J; Prusiner, Stanley B

2012-02-28

Currently, there are no animal models of the most common human prion disorder, sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), in which prions are formed spontaneously from wild-type (WT) prion protein (PrP). Interestingly, bank voles (BV) exhibit an unprecedented promiscuity for diverse prion isolates, arguing that bank vole PrP (BVPrP) may be inherently prone to adopting misfolded conformations. Therefore, we constructed transgenic (Tg) mice expressing WT BVPrP. Tg(BVPrP) mice developed spontaneous CNS dysfunction between 108 and 340 d of age and recapitulated the hallmarks of prion disease, including spongiform degeneration, pronounced astrogliosis, and deposition of alternatively folded PrP in the brain. Brain homogenates of ill Tg(BVPrP) mice transmitted disease to Tg(BVPrP) mice in ∼35 d, to Tg mice overexpressing mouse PrP in under 100 d, and to WT mice in ∼185 d. Our studies demonstrate experimentally that WT PrP can spontaneously form infectious prions in vivo. Thus, Tg(BVPrP) mice may be useful for studying the spontaneous formation of prions, and thus may provide insight into the etiology of sporadic CJD.

Spontaneous tension haemopneumothorax.

Science.gov (United States)

Patterson, Benjamin Oliver; Itam, Sarah; Probst, Fey

2008-10-31

We present a patient with sudden onset progressive shortness of breath and no history of trauma, who rapidly became haemodynamically compromised with a pneumothorax and pleural effusion seen on chest radiograph. He was treated for spontaneous tension pneumothorax but this was soon revealed to be a tension haemopneumothorax. He underwent urgent thoracotomy after persistent bleeding to explore an apical vascular abnormality seen on CT scanning. To our knowledge this is the first such case reported.Aetiology and current approach to spontaneous haemothorax are discussed briefly.

Computational Account of Spontaneous Activity as a Signature of Predictive Coding.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Veronika Koren

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Spontaneous activity is commonly observed in a variety of cortical states. Experimental evidence suggested that neural assemblies undergo slow oscillations with Up ad Down states even when the network is isolated from the rest of the brain. Here we show that these spontaneous events can be generated by the recurrent connections within the network and understood as signatures of neural circuits that are correcting their internal representation. A noiseless spiking neural network can represent its input signals most accurately when excitatory and inhibitory currents are as strong and as tightly balanced as possible. However, in the presence of realistic neural noise and synaptic delays, this may result in prohibitively large spike counts. An optimal working regime can be found by considering terms that control firing rates in the objective function from which the network is derived and then minimizing simultaneously the coding error and the cost of neural activity. In biological terms, this is equivalent to tuning neural thresholds and after-spike hyperpolarization. In suboptimal working regimes, we observe spontaneous activity even in the absence of feed-forward inputs. In an all-to-all randomly connected network, the entire population is involved in Up states. In spatially organized networks with local connectivity, Up states spread through local connections between neurons of similar selectivity and take the form of a traveling wave. Up states are observed for a wide range of parameters and have similar statistical properties in both active and quiescent state. In the optimal working regime, Up states are vanishing, leaving place to asynchronous activity, suggesting that this working regime is a signature of maximally efficient coding. Although they result in a massive increase in the firing activity, the read-out of spontaneous Up states is in fact orthogonal to the stimulus representation, therefore interfering minimally with the network

Teleporting the one-qubit state via two-level atoms with spontaneous emission

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hu Mingliang, E-mail: mingliang0301@xupt.edu.cn, E-mail: mingliang0301@163.com [School of Science, Xi' an University of Posts and Telecommunications, Xi' an 710061 (China)

2011-05-14

We study quantum teleportation via two two-level atoms coupled collectively to a multimode vacuum field and prepared initially in different atomic states. We concentrated on the influence of the spontaneous emission, collective damping and dipole-dipole interaction of the atoms on fidelity dynamics of quantum teleportation and obtained the region of spatial distance between the two atoms over which the state can be teleported nonclassically. Moreover, we showed through concrete examples that entanglement of the channel state is the prerequisite but not the only essential quantity for predicting the teleportation fidelity.

The cluster analysis based on non-teacher artificial neural network for the danger prediction of coal spontaneous fire

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, D.; Wang, J. [China University of Mining and Technology (China)

1999-04-01

This paper focuses on the problem of predicting the danger level of spontaneous fire in coal mines. Firstly, the inadequacy of the present artificial neural networks prediction model is analysed. Then a new cluster model based on non-teacher neural network is constructed according to the danger judgement standards given by experts. On this basis, by adopting the error square sum criterion and its algorithm, the corresponding prediction software is developed and applied in two working faces of Chaili Coal Mine. The forecasting result is importantly significant for the prevention of spontaneous fire. 4 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab.

Spontaneous breaking of N=2 to N=1 in rigid and local supersymmetric theories

CERN Document Server

Ferrara, Sergio; Porrati, Massimo

1996-01-01

We analyze the relation between rigid and local supersymmetric N=2 field theories, when half of the supersymmetries are spontaneously broken. In particular, we show that the recently found partial supersymmety breaking induced by electric and magnetic Fayet-Iliopoulos terms in rigid theories can be obtained by a suitable flat limit of previously constructed N=2 supergravity models with partial super-Higgs in the observable sector.

Spontaneous tension haemopneumothorax

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Itam Sarah

2008-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract We present a patient with sudden onset progressive shortness of breath and no history of trauma, who rapidly became haemodynamically compromised with a pneumothorax and pleural effusion seen on chest radiograph. He was treated for spontaneous tension pneumothorax but this was soon revealed to be a tension haemopneumothorax. He underwent urgent thoracotomy after persistent bleeding to explore an apical vascular abnormality seen on CT scanning. To our knowledge this is the first such case reported. Aetiology and current approach to spontaneous haemothorax are discussed briefly.

Spontaneous compactification to homogeneous spaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mourao, J.M.

1988-01-01

The spontaneous compactification of extra dimensions to compact homogeneous spaces is studied. The methods developed within the framework of coset space dimensional reduction scheme and the most general form of invariant metrics are used to find solutions of spontaneous compactification equations

Case of spontaneous ventriculocisternostomy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yamane, Kanji; Yoshimoto, Hisanori; Harada, Kiyoshi; Uozumi, Tohru [Hiroshima Univ. (Japan). School of Medicine; Kuwabara, Satoshi

1983-05-01

The authors experienced a case of spontaneous ventriculocisternostomy diagnosed by CT scan with metrizamide and Conray. Patient was 23-year-old male who had been in good health until one month before admission, when he began to have headache and tinnitus. He noticed bilateral visual acuity was decreased about one week before admission and vomiting appeared two days before admission. He was admitted to our hospital because of bilateral papilledema and remarkable hydrocephalus diagnosed by CT scan. On admission, no abnormal neurological signs except for bilateral papilledema were noted. Immediately, right ventricular drainage was performed. Pressure of the ventricle was over 300mmH/sub 2/O and CSF was clear. PVG and PEG disclosed an another cavity behind the third ventricle, which was communicated with the third ventricle, and occlusion of aqueduct of Sylvius. Metrizamide CT scan and Conray CT scan showed a communication between this cavity and quadrigeminal and supracerebellar cisterns. On these neuroradiological findings, the diagnosis of obstructive hydrocephalus due to benign aqueduct stenosis accompanied with spontaneous ventriculocisternostomy was obtained. Spontaneous ventriculocisternostomy was noticed to produce arrest of hydrocephalus, but with our case, spontaneous regression of such symptoms did not appeared. By surgical ventriculocisternostomy (method by Torkildsen, Dandy, or Scarff), arrest of hydrocephalus was seen in about 50 to 70 per cent, which was the same results as those of spontaneous ventriculocisternostomy. It is concluded that VP shunt or VA shunt is thought to be better treatment of obstructive hydrocephalus than the various kinds of surgical ventriculocisternostomy.

Spontaneous Intracranial Hypotension without Orthostatic Headache

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tülay Kansu

2009-03-01

Full Text Available We report 2 cases of spontaneous intracranial hypotension that presented with unilateral abducens nerve palsy, without orthostatic headache. While sixth nerve palsies improved without any intervention, subdural hematoma was detected with magnetic resonance imaging. We conclude that headache may be absent in spontaneous intracranial hypotension and spontaneous improvement of sixth nerve palsy can occur, even after the development of a subdural hematoma

Spontaneous intraorbital hematoma: case report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vinodan Paramanathan

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Vinodan Paramanathan, Ardalan ZolnourianQueen's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Burton on Trent, Staffordshire DE13 0RB, UKAbstract: Spontaneous intraorbital hematoma is an uncommon clinical entity seen in ophthalmology practice. It is poorly represented in the literature. Current evidence attributes it to orbital trauma, neoplasm, vascular malformations, acute sinusitis, and systemic abnormalities. A 65-year-old female presented with spontaneous intraorbital hematoma manifesting as severe ocular pains, eyelid edema, proptosis, and diplopia, without a history of trauma. Computer tomography demonstrated a fairly well defined extraconal lesion with opacification of the paranasal sinuses. The principal differential based on all findings was that of a spreading sinus infection and an extraconal tumor. An unprecedented finding of a spontaneous orbital hematoma was discovered when the patient was taken to theater. We discuss the rarity of this condition and its management.Keywords: hemorrhage, ophthalmology, spontaneous, intra-orbital, hematoma

Historical Evolution of Spatial Abilities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Ardila

1993-01-01

Full Text Available Historical evolution and cross-cultural differences in spatial abilities are analyzed. Spatial abilities have been found to be significantly associated with the complexity of geographical conditions and survival demands. Although impaired spatial cognition is found in cases of, exclusively or predominantly, right hemisphere pathology, it is proposed that this asymmetry may depend on the degree of training in spatial abilities. It is further proposed that spatial cognition might have evolved in a parallel way with cultural evolution and environmental demands. Contemporary city humans might be using spatial abilities in some new, conceptual tasks that did not exist in prehistoric times: mathematics, reading, writing, mechanics, music, etc. Cross-cultural analysis of spatial abilities in different human groups, normalization of neuropsychological testing instruments, and clinical observations of spatial ability disturbances in people with different cultural backgrounds and various spatial requirements, are required to construct a neuropsychological theory of brain organization of spatial cognition.

Screening for spontaneous preterm birth

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Os, M.A.; van Dam, A.J.E.M.

2015-01-01

Preterm birth is the most important cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. In this thesis studies on spontaneous preterm birth are presented. The main objective was to investigate the predictive capacity of mid-trimester cervical length measurement for spontaneous preterm birth in a

Spatial variation in carrier dynamics along a single CdSSe nanowire

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blake, Jolie C.; Eldridge, Peter S.; Gundlach, Lars

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Femtosecond Kerr-gate microscopy allows ultrafast fluorescence measurements along different positions of a single nanowire. • Amplified spontaneous emission observed at high fluences can be used to calculate recombination rates. • Observation of ASE at different locations along a single CdSSe nanowire provides the ability to extract defect densities. - Abstract: Ultrafast charge carrier dynamics along individual CdS x Se 1−x nanowires has been measured. The use of an improved ultrafast Kerr-gated microscope allows for spatially resolved luminescence measurements along a single nanowire. Amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) was observed at high excitation fluences. Position dependent variations of ultrafast ASE dynamics were observed. SEM and colorimetric measurements showed that the difference in dynamics can be attributed to variations in non-radiative recombination rates along the wire. The dominant Shockley-Read recombination rate can be extracted from ASE dynamics and can be directly related to charge carrier mobility and defect density. Employing ASE as a probe for defect densities provides a new sub-micron spatially resolved, contactless method for measurements of charge carrier mobility

Early pregnancy angiogenic markers and spontaneous abortion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Louise B; Dechend, Ralf; Karumanchi, S Ananth

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: Spontaneous abortion is the most commonly observed adverse pregnancy outcome. The angiogenic factors soluble Fms-like kinase 1 and placental growth factor are critical for normal pregnancy and may be associated to spontaneous abortion. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the association between...... maternal serum concentrations of soluble Fms-like kinase 1 and placental growth factor, and subsequent spontaneous abortion. STUDY DESIGN: In the prospective observational Odense Child Cohort, 1676 pregnant women donated serum in early pregnancy, gestational week ..., interquartile range 71-103). Concentrations of soluble Fms-like kinase 1 and placental growth factor were determined with novel automated assays. Spontaneous abortion was defined as complete or incomplete spontaneous abortion, missed abortion, or blighted ovum

A comparison of spatial analysis methods for the construction of topographic maps of retinal cell density.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eduardo Garza-Gisholt

Full Text Available Topographic maps that illustrate variations in the density of different neuronal sub-types across the retina are valuable tools for understanding the adaptive significance of retinal specialisations in different species of vertebrates. To date, such maps have been created from raw count data that have been subjected to only limited analysis (linear interpolation and, in many cases, have been presented as iso-density contour maps with contour lines that have been smoothed 'by eye'. With the use of stereological approach to count neuronal distribution, a more rigorous approach to analysing the count data is warranted and potentially provides a more accurate representation of the neuron distribution pattern. Moreover, a formal spatial analysis of retinal topography permits a more robust comparison of topographic maps within and between species. In this paper, we present a new R-script for analysing the topography of retinal neurons and compare methods of interpolating and smoothing count data for the construction of topographic maps. We compare four methods for spatial analysis of cell count data: Akima interpolation, thin plate spline interpolation, thin plate spline smoothing and Gaussian kernel smoothing. The use of interpolation 'respects' the observed data and simply calculates the intermediate values required to create iso-density contour maps. Interpolation preserves more of the data but, consequently includes outliers, sampling errors and/or other experimental artefacts. In contrast, smoothing the data reduces the 'noise' caused by artefacts and permits a clearer representation of the dominant, 'real' distribution. This is particularly useful where cell density gradients are shallow and small variations in local density may dramatically influence the perceived spatial pattern of neuronal topography. The thin plate spline and the Gaussian kernel methods both produce similar retinal topography maps but the smoothing parameters used may affect

A comparison of spatial analysis methods for the construction of topographic maps of retinal cell density.

Science.gov (United States)

Garza-Gisholt, Eduardo; Hemmi, Jan M; Hart, Nathan S; Collin, Shaun P

2014-01-01

Topographic maps that illustrate variations in the density of different neuronal sub-types across the retina are valuable tools for understanding the adaptive significance of retinal specialisations in different species of vertebrates. To date, such maps have been created from raw count data that have been subjected to only limited analysis (linear interpolation) and, in many cases, have been presented as iso-density contour maps with contour lines that have been smoothed 'by eye'. With the use of stereological approach to count neuronal distribution, a more rigorous approach to analysing the count data is warranted and potentially provides a more accurate representation of the neuron distribution pattern. Moreover, a formal spatial analysis of retinal topography permits a more robust comparison of topographic maps within and between species. In this paper, we present a new R-script for analysing the topography of retinal neurons and compare methods of interpolating and smoothing count data for the construction of topographic maps. We compare four methods for spatial analysis of cell count data: Akima interpolation, thin plate spline interpolation, thin plate spline smoothing and Gaussian kernel smoothing. The use of interpolation 'respects' the observed data and simply calculates the intermediate values required to create iso-density contour maps. Interpolation preserves more of the data but, consequently includes outliers, sampling errors and/or other experimental artefacts. In contrast, smoothing the data reduces the 'noise' caused by artefacts and permits a clearer representation of the dominant, 'real' distribution. This is particularly useful where cell density gradients are shallow and small variations in local density may dramatically influence the perceived spatial pattern of neuronal topography. The thin plate spline and the Gaussian kernel methods both produce similar retinal topography maps but the smoothing parameters used may affect the outcome.

Chest Computed Tomographic Image Screening for Cystic Lung Diseases in Patients with Spontaneous Pneumothorax Is Cost Effective.

Science.gov (United States)

Gupta, Nishant; Langenderfer, Dale; McCormack, Francis X; Schauer, Daniel P; Eckman, Mark H

2017-01-01

Patients without a known history of lung disease presenting with a spontaneous pneumothorax are generally diagnosed as having primary spontaneous pneumothorax. However, occult diffuse cystic lung diseases such as Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome (BHD), lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), and pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis (PLCH) can also first present with a spontaneous pneumothorax, and their early identification by high-resolution computed tomographic (HRCT) chest imaging has implications for subsequent management. The objective of our study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of HRCT chest imaging to facilitate early diagnosis of LAM, BHD, and PLCH. We constructed a Markov state-transition model to assess the cost-effectiveness of screening HRCT to facilitate early diagnosis of diffuse cystic lung diseases in patients presenting with an apparent primary spontaneous pneumothorax. Baseline data for prevalence of BHD, LAM, and PLCH and rates of recurrent pneumothoraces in each of these diseases were derived from the literature. Costs were extracted from 2014 Medicare data. We compared a strategy of HRCT screening followed by pleurodesis in patients with LAM, BHD, or PLCH versus conventional management with no HRCT screening. In our base case analysis, screening for the presence of BHD, LAM, or PLCH in patients presenting with a spontaneous pneumothorax was cost effective, with a marginal cost-effectiveness ratio of $1,427 per quality-adjusted life-year gained. Sensitivity analysis showed that screening HRCT remained cost effective for diffuse cystic lung diseases prevalence as low as 0.01%. HRCT image screening for BHD, LAM, and PLCH in patients with apparent primary spontaneous pneumothorax is cost effective. Clinicians should consider performing a screening HRCT in patients presenting with apparent primary spontaneous pneumothorax.

A Qualitative Analysis of the Spontaneous Volunteer Response to the 2013 Sudan Floods: Changing the Paradigm.

Science.gov (United States)

Albahari, Amin; Schultz, Carl H

2017-06-01

Introduction While the concept of community resilience is gaining traction, the role of spontaneous volunteers during the initial response to disasters remains controversial. In an attempt to resolve some of the debate, investigators examined the activities of a spontaneous volunteer group called Nafeer after the Sudan floods around the city of Khartoum in August of 2013. Hypothesis Can spontaneous volunteers successfully initiate, coordinate, and deliver sustained assistance immediately after a disaster? This retrospective, descriptive case study involved: (1) interviews with Nafeer members that participated in the disaster response to the Khartoum floods; (2) examination of documents generated during the event; and (3) subsequent benchmarking of their efforts with the Sphere Handbook. Members who agreed to participate were requested to provide all documents in their possession relating to Nafeer. The response by Nafeer was then benchmarked to the Sphere Handbook's six core standards, as well as the 11 minimum standards in essential health services. A total of 11 individuals were interviewed (six from leadership and five from active members). Nafeer's activities included: food provision; delivery of basic health care; environmental sanitation campaigns; efforts to raise awareness; and construction and strengthening of flood barricades. Its use of electronic platforms and social media to collect data and coordinate the organization's response was effective. Nafeer adopted a flat-management structure, dividing itself into 14 committees. A Coordination Committee was in charge of liaising between all committees. The Health and Sanitation Committee supervised two health days which included mobile medical and dentistry clinics supported by a mobile laboratory and pharmacy. The Engineering Committee managed to construct and maintain flood barricades. Nafeer used crowd-sourcing to fund its activities, receiving donations locally and internationally using supporters

Expressions of Private Mourning in Public Space : The Evolving Structure of Spontaneous and Permanent Roadside Memorials in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Klaassens, Mirjam; Groote, Peter D.; Vanclay, Frank M.

2013-01-01

A visual content analysis of photos of 216 roadside memorials in the Netherlands was undertaken together with 24 interviews with the people who constructed them to understand how they deal with traumatic death. Friends urgently need to memorialize the deceased and establish spontaneous memorials.

Spontaneous emission by moving atoms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meystre, P.; Wilkens, M.

1994-01-01

It is well known that spontaneous emission is not an intrinsic atomic property, but rather results from the coupling of the atom to the vacuum modes of the electromagnetic field. As such, it can be modified by tailoring the electromagnetic environment into which the atom can radiate. This was already realized by Purcell, who noted that the spontaneous emission rate can be enhanced if the atom placed inside a cavity is resonant with one of the cavity is resonant with one of the cavity modes, and by Kleppner, who discussed the opposite case of inhibited spontaneous emission. It has also been recognized that spontaneous emission need not be an irreversible process. Indeed, a system consisting of a single atom coupled to a single mode of the electromagnetic field undergoes a periodic exchange of excitation between the atom and the field. This periodic exchange remains dominant as long as the strength of the coupling between the atom and a cavity mode is itself dominant. 23 refs., 6 figs

A Case of Multiple Spontaneous Keloid Scars

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdulhadi Jfri

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Keloid scars result from an abnormal healing response to cutaneous injury or inflammation that extends beyond the borders of the original wound. Spontaneous keloid scars forming in the absence of any previous trauma or surgical procedure are rare. Certain syndromes have been associated with this phenomenon, and few reports have discussed the evidence of single spontaneous keloid scar, which raises the question whether they are really spontaneous. Here, we present a 27-year-old mentally retarded single female with orbital hypertelorism, broad nasal bridge, repaired cleft lip and high-arched palate who presented with progressive multiple spontaneous keloid scars in different parts of her body which were confirmed histologically by the presence of typical keloidal collagen. This report supports the fact that keloid scars can appear spontaneously and are possibly linked to a genetic factor. Furthermore, it describes a new presentation of spontaneous keloid scars in the form of multiple large lesions in different sites of the body.

Spontaneous Lorentz breaking at high energies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cheng, H.-C.; Luty, Markus A.; Mukohyama, Shinji; Thaler, Jesse

2006-01-01

Theories that spontaneously break Lorentz invariance also violate diffeomorphism symmetries, implying the existence of extra degrees of freedom and modifications of gravity. In the minimal model ('ghost condensation') with only a single extra degree of freedom at low energies, the scale of Lorentz violation cannot be larger than about M ∼ 100GeV due to an infrared instability in the gravity sector. We show that Lorentz symmetry can be broken at much higher scales in a non-minimal theory with additional degrees of freedom, in particular if Lorentz symmetry is broken by the vacuum expectation value of a vector field. This theory can be constructed by gauging ghost condensation, giving a systematic effective field theory description that allows us to estimate the size of all physical effects. We show that nonlinear effects become important for gravitational fields with strength Φ 1/2 ∼> g, where g is the gauge coupling, and we argue that the nonlinear dynamics is free from singularities. We then analyze the phenomenology of the model, including nonlinear dynamics and velocity-dependent effects. The strongest bounds on the gravitational sector come from either black hole accretion or direction-dependent gravitational forces, and imply that the scale of spontaneous Lorentz breaking is M ∼ 12 GeV, g 2 10 15 GeV). If the Lorentz breaking sector couples directly to matter, there is a spin-dependent inverse-square law force, which has a different angular dependence from the force mediated by the ghost condensate, providing a distinctive signature for this class of models

Non-retinotopic feature processing in the absence of retinotopic spatial layout and the construction of perceptual space from motion.

Science.gov (United States)

Ağaoğlu, Mehmet N; Herzog, Michael H; Oğmen, Haluk

2012-10-15

The spatial representation of a visual scene in the early visual system is well known. The optics of the eye map the three-dimensional environment onto two-dimensional images on the retina. These retinotopic representations are preserved in the early visual system. Retinotopic representations and processing are among the most prevalent concepts in visual neuroscience. However, it has long been known that a retinotopic representation of the stimulus is neither sufficient nor necessary for perception. Saccadic Stimulus Presentation Paradigm and the Ternus-Pikler displays have been used to investigate non-retinotopic processes with and without eye movements, respectively. However, neither of these paradigms eliminates the retinotopic representation of the spatial layout of the stimulus. Here, we investigated how stimulus features are processed in the absence of a retinotopic layout and in the presence of retinotopic conflict. We used anorthoscopic viewing (slit viewing) and pitted a retinotopic feature-processing hypothesis against a non-retinotopic feature-processing hypothesis. Our results support the predictions of the non-retinotopic feature-processing hypothesis and demonstrate the ability of the visual system to operate non-retinotopically at a fine feature processing level in the absence of a retinotopic spatial layout. Our results suggest that perceptual space is actively constructed from the perceptual dimension of motion. The implications of these findings for normal ecological viewing conditions are discussed. 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Spatial Structure of Modern Moscow

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daria V. Goloukhova

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The article is focused on the spatial structure of modern Moscow and features distinguishing it from the cities of Western Europe and the US. The city has hybrid spatial structure combining elements which emerged on different stages of the city development. In the 14th century two tendencies appeared: the prestige of the city centre and opposition of Western districts as more prestigious to Eastern districts as less prestigious. Crucial spatial characteristics emerged in the Soviet era and up to now they define the image of Moscow. Firstly, it's a peculiar density profile. Population density in post-socialist cities tends to increase as we move further from the city centre while in Western European cities population density is the highest in central districts. Secondly, elementary units of Moscow spatial structure are so called micro-districts (neighbourhoods. The concept of a microdistrict was very popular with Soviet urban planners and widely applied in the residential construction. Another peculiarity of Moscow spatial structure is social heterogeneity of districts and absence of ethnic quarters or ghettos. Furthermore, significant part of the city area is occupied by former industrials zones which are not used anymore and need to be reconstructed. With transition to market economy a number of spatial changes emerged. They were partly related to the large-scale privatization, infill construction and lack of effective urban planning policy. In conclusion the article states the need for the new model of spatial organization which would take into account the specifics of Russian reality.

Spontaneous pneumothorax in silicotuberculosis of lung

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kolenic, J.; Jurgova, T.; Zimacek, J.; Vajo, J.; Krchnavy, M.

1995-01-01

The authors describe the case of 62 years old man with the appearance of spontaneous pneumothorax, in whom the basic pulmonary disease was silicotuberculosis of the lung. At clinic of occupational diseases in Kosice have been evidence 965 cases of silicosis and silicotuberculosis. From 1971 they have now the first case of spontaneous pneumothorax. The authors make discussion about possible mechanical and biochemical factors, which cause relatively low incidence of spontaneous pneumothorax in silicosis of the lung. (authors)

Spontaneous pneumothorax in diffuse cystic lung diseases.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooley, Joseph; Lee, Yun Chor Gary; Gupta, Nishant

2017-07-01

Diffuse cystic lung diseases (DCLDs) are a heterogeneous group of disorders with varying pathophysiologic mechanisms that are characterized by the presence of air-filled lung cysts. These cysts are prone to rupture, leading to the development of recurrent spontaneous pneumothoraces. In this article, we review the epidemiology, clinical features, and management DCLD-associated spontaneous pneumothorax, with a focus on lymphangioleiomyomatosis, Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome, and pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis. DCLDs are responsible for approximately 10% of apparent primary spontaneous pneumothoraces. Computed tomography screening for DCLDs (Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome, lymphangioleiomyomatosis, and pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis) following the first spontaneous pneumothorax has recently been shown to be cost-effective and can help facilitate early diagnosis of the underlying disorders. Patients with DCLD-associated spontaneous pneumothorax have a very high rate of recurrence, and thus pleurodesis should be considered following the first episode of spontaneous pneumothorax in these patients, rather than waiting for a recurrent episode. Prior pleurodesis is not a contraindication to future lung transplant. Although DCLDs are uncommon, spontaneous pneumothorax is often the sentinel event that provides an opportunity for diagnosis. By understanding the burden and implications of pneumothoraces in DCLDs, clinicians can facilitate early diagnosis and appropriate management of the underlying disorders.

Spatial-Temporal Dynamics of the Economic Efficiency of Construction Land in the Pearl River Delta Megalopolis from 1998 to 2012

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuyao Ye

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Since the 1980s, the rapid, extensive, and dispersed urban expansion in the Pearl River Delta megalopolis (PRDM has led to landscape fragmentation and the inefficient use of construction land. Like other developed regions in China that are subject to the dual challenges of shortages of construction land and deterioration of the ecological environment, it is becoming increasingly important in the PRDM to improve the land-use efficiency of urban construction. However, current methods for assessing land-use efficiency do not meet the emerging needs of land-use planning and policymaking. Therefore, using the American Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP/Operational Linescan System (OLS nighttime light imagery and Landsat TM data, this study aims to develop a timely and efficient approach to model the high-resolution economic efficiency of construction land (EECL. With this approach, we mapped the reliable EECL of the PRDM at township level and with a one-kilometer grid. Next, the study compared the temporal changes and revealed the spatial-temporal dynamics in order to provide a scientific reference for informed land-use planning and policymaking. The results show that since 1998, the economic efficiency of construction land in the PRDM increased in general but varied significantly throughout the area. Further, these disparities widened from 1998 to 2012 between the PRDM’s inner and peripheral circles. Only one-fifth of the towns and subdistricts were categorized as fast-growth or ultrafast-growth, with the majority located in the most developed areas of the PRDM’s inner circle. In order to improve the efficiency of construction land in the PRDM and realize sustainable development, differentiated land-use policies for the inner and peripheral circles were proposed. The inner circle should focus on promoting the efficiency of existing construction land and encourage urban renewal, while the peripheral circle should enhance the control

FEL gain optimisation and spontaneous radiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bali, L.M.; Srivastava, A.; Pandya, T.P. [Lucknow Univ. (India)] [and others

1995-12-31

Colson have evaluated FEL gains for small deviations from perfect electron beam injection, with radiation of the same polarisation as that of the wiggler fields. We find that for optimum gain the polarisation of the optical field should be the same as that of the spontaneous emission under these conditions. With a helical wiggler the axial oscillations resulting from small departures from perfect electron beam injection lead to injection dependent unequal amplitudes and phases of the spontaneous radiation in the two transverse directions. Viewed along the axis therefore the spontaneous emission is elliptically polarised. The azimuth of the ellipse varies with the difference of phase of the two transverse components of spontaneous emission but the eccentricity remains the same. With planar wigglers the spontaneous emission viewed in the axial direction is linearly polarised, again with an injection dependent azimuth. For optimum coherent gain of a radiation field its polarisation characteristics must be the same as those of the spontaneous radiation with both types of wiggler. Thus, with a helical wiggler and the data reported earlier, an increase of 10% in the FEL gain at the fundamental frequency and of 11% at the fifth harmonic has been calculated in the small gain per pass limit. Larger enhancements in gain may result from more favourable values of input parameters.

Acute and chronic ethanol intake: effects on spatial and non-spatial memory in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

García-Moreno, Luis M; Cimadevilla, Jose M

2012-12-01

Abusive alcohol consumption produces neuronal damage and biochemical alterations in the mammal brain followed by cognitive disturbances. In this work rats receiving chronic and acute alcohol intake were evaluated in a spontaneous delayed non-matching to sample/position test. Chronic alcohol-treated rats had free access to an aqueous ethanol solution as the only available liquid source from the postnatal day 21 to the end of experiment (postnatal day 90). Acute alcoholic animals received an injection of 2 g/kg ethanol solution once per week. Subjects were evaluated in two tests (object recognition and spatial recognition) based on the spontaneous delayed non-matching to sample or to position paradigm using delays of 1 min, 15 min and 60 min. Results showed that chronic and acute alcohol intake impairs the rats' performance in both tests. Moreover, chronic alcohol-treated rats were more altered than acute treated animals in both tasks. Our results support the idea that chronic and acute alcohol administration during postnatal development caused widespread brain damage resulting in behavioral disturbances and learning disabilities. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis in Subclinical Hypothyroidism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dalip Gupta

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Hypothyroidism is an uncommon cause of ascites. Here we describe a case of a 75 year-old female patient with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis and subclinical hypothyroidism that resolved with thyroid replacement and antibiotic therapy respectively. Ascitic fluid analysis revealed a gram-positive bacterium on gram staining. A review of the literature revealed just one other reported case of myxoedema ascites with concomitant spontaneous bacterial peritonitis and no case has till been reported of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in subclinical hypothyroidism.

Spontaneous mutation rates and the rate-doubling dose

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Von Borstel, R.C.; Moustaccki, E.; Latarjet, R.

1978-01-01

The amount of radiation required to double the frequency of mutations or tumours over the rate of those that occur spontaneously is called the rate-doubling dose. An equivalent concept has been proposed for exposure to other environmental mutagens. The doubling dose concept is predicated on the assumption that all human populations have the same spontaneous mutation rate, and that this spontaneous mutation rate is known. It is now established for prokaryotes and lower eukaryotes that numerous genes control the spontaneous mutation rate, and it is likely that the same is true for human cells as well. Given that the accepted mode of evolution of human populatons is from small, isolated groups of individuals, it seems likely that each population would have a different spontaneous mutation rate. Given that a minimum of twenty genes control or affect the spontaneous mutation rate, and that each of these in turn is susceptible to spontaneously arising or environmentally induced mutations, it seems likely that every individual within a population (except for siblings from identical multiple births) will have a unique spontaneous mutation rate. If each individual in a population does have a different spontaneous mutation rate, the doubling dose concept, in rigorous terms, is fallacious. Therefore, as with other concepts of risk evaluation, the doubling dose concept is subject to criticism. Nevertheless, until we know individual spontaneous mutation rates with precision, and can evaluate risks based on this information, the doubling dose concept has a heuristic value and is needed for practical assessment of risks for defined populations. (author)

Spontaneous behavior of basal Copionodontinae cave catfishes from Brazil (Teleostei, Siluriformes, Trichomycteridae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bianca Rantin

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Cave animals are particularly interesting due to their behavioral specializations, resultant from evolution in isolation. We present data from a spontaneous behavior study (spatial distribution and preference for microhabitats of two troglobitic catfish from Brazil: Glaphyropoma spinosum and a new species of Copionodon. We compared the data with those obtained of a sympatric epigean species, Copionodon pecten. These Trichomycteridae species belong to a basal and apparently monophyletic subfamily – Copionodontinae, endemic to Chapada Diamantina, central Bahia state, eastern Brazil. We observed the fishes in natural and laboratory conditions through ad libitum and focal animal methods. Each spatial behavioral category (hidden, bottom, midwater, surface and wall swimming and stationary in the bottom was timed individually, with a sample of 12 specimens per species. Unlike most troglobitic fishes, cave copionodontines tested herein did not extend exploratory behavior to midwater, with benthonic and thigmotactic-related exploratory behavior. This behavior is possibly related to its feeding behavior specializations, strong territorialism and photophobic behavior. The epigean Copionodon species is also benthonic. The spatial behavior of the cave Copionodontinae could be interpreted as a retained and plesiomorphic character-state in relation to other trichomycterid catfishes.

Visually Evoked Spiking Evolves While Spontaneous Ongoing Dynamics Persist

Science.gov (United States)

Huys, Raoul; Jirsa, Viktor K.; Darokhan, Ziauddin; Valentiniene, Sonata; Roland, Per E.

2016-01-01

Neurons in the primary visual cortex spontaneously spike even when there are no visual stimuli. It is unknown whether the spiking evoked by visual stimuli is just a modification of the spontaneous ongoing cortical spiking dynamics or whether the spontaneous spiking state disappears and is replaced by evoked spiking. This study of laminar recordings of spontaneous spiking and visually evoked spiking of neurons in the ferret primary visual cortex shows that the spiking dynamics does not change: the spontaneous spiking as well as evoked spiking is controlled by a stable and persisting fixed point attractor. Its existence guarantees that evoked spiking return to the spontaneous state. However, the spontaneous ongoing spiking state and the visual evoked spiking states are qualitatively different and are separated by a threshold (separatrix). The functional advantage of this organization is that it avoids the need for a system reorganization following visual stimulation, and impedes the transition of spontaneous spiking to evoked spiking and the propagation of spontaneous spiking from layer 4 to layers 2–3. PMID:26778982

Peritonitis - spontaneous bacterial

Science.gov (United States)

Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP); Ascites - peritonitis; Cirrhosis - peritonitis ... who are on peritoneal dialysis for kidney failure. Peritonitis may have other causes . These include infection from ...

Search for spontaneous fission of 226Ra and systematics of the spontaneous fission, α-decay and cluster decay probabilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mikheev, V.L.; Tret'yakova, S.P.; Golovchenko, A.N.; Timofeeva, O.V.; Hussonnois, M.; Le Naour, C.

1998-01-01

The low limit of the 226 Ra spontaneous fission half-life corresponding to T 1/2 ≥ 4 · 10 18 years is measured. The 226 Ra spontaneous fission probability proved to be about 50 times less than the value expected from the known systematics, connecting the ratios of theα-decay and spontaneous fission probabilities with the fissility parameter Z 2 /A. It is shown that the probabilities of spontaneous fission, α-decay and cluster decay can be systematized in the same way according to the difference between the decay products Coulomb energy near the scission point and decay energy Q

Dorsomedial prefontal cortex supports spontaneous thinking per se.

Science.gov (United States)

Raij, T T; Riekki, T J J

2017-06-01

Spontaneous thinking, an action to produce, consider, integrate, and reason through mental representations, is central to our daily experience and has been suggested to serve crucial adaptive purposes. Such thinking occurs among other experiences during mind wandering that is associated with activation of the default mode network among other brain circuitries. Whether and how such brain activation is linked to the experience of spontaneous thinking per se remains poorly known. We studied 51 healthy subjects using a comprehensive experience-sampling paradigm during 3T functional magnetic resonance imaging. In comparison with fixation, the experiences of spontaneous thinking and spontaneous perception were related to activation of wide-spread brain circuitries, including the cortical midline structures, the anterior cingulate cortex and the visual cortex. In direct comparison of the spontaneous thinking versus spontaneous perception, activation was observed in the anterior dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Modality congruence of spontaneous-experience-related brain activation was suggested by several findings, including association of the lingual gyrus with visual in comparison with non-verbal-non-visual thinking. In the context of current literature, these findings suggest that the cortical midline structures are involved in the integrative core substrate of spontaneous thinking that is coupled with other brain systems depending on the characteristics of thinking. Furthermore, involvement of the anterior dorsomedial prefrontal cortex suggests the control of high-order abstract functions to characterize spontaneous thinking per se. Hum Brain Mapp 38:3277-3288, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Maternal smoking predicts the risk of spontaneous abortion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Ann; Hannibal, Charlotte Gerd; Lindekilde, Bodil Eriksen

2006-01-01

BACKGROUND: Few studies have examined smoking prior to pregnancy and the occurrence of spontaneous abortion, as most studies have addressed the risk of spontaneous abortion in relation to smoking during pregnancy. However, results are not entirely consistent. The aim of the present study...... was to assess the risk of spontaneous abortion considering smoking prior to pregnancy. METHODS: We performed a nested case-control study using prospective data from a population-based cohort comprising 11,088 women aged 20-29 years. From this cohort, women who experienced either a spontaneous abortion (n=343......) or who gave birth (n=1,578) during follow-up were selected. Associations between self-reported smoking at enrollment and subsequent spontaneous abortion were analyzed by means of multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: The risk of spontaneous abortion in relation to pre-pregnancy smoking showed a clear...

Lepton--lepton scattering in a spontaneously broken gauge theory satisfying strong interaction duality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dicus, D.A.; Teplitz, V.L.; Young, J.E.

1974-01-01

A spontaneously broken gauge theory of leptons (e, μ, ν/sub e'/, ν/sub μ/) is constructed in which the two-body scattering amplitudes are dual. The resultant model leads to suppression of ν/sub μ/ + e → ν/sub μ/ + e and predictions for ν/sub e/ + e → ν/sub e/ + e and e + e → μ + μ - that are distinctly different from those of both the conventional V--A theory and the Weinberg-Salam model. (U.S.)

Uncertainty in spatial planning proceedings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aleš Mlakar

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Uncertainty is distinctive of spatial planning as it arises from the necessity to co-ordinate the various interests within the area, from the urgency of adopting spatial planning decisions, the complexity of the environment, physical space and society, addressing the uncertainty of the future and from the uncertainty of actually making the right decision. Response to uncertainty is a series of measures that mitigate the effects of uncertainty itself. These measures are based on two fundamental principles – standardization and optimization. The measures are related to knowledge enhancement and spatial planning comprehension, in the legal regulation of changes, in the existence of spatial planning as a means of different interests co-ordination, in the active planning and the constructive resolution of current spatial problems, in the integration of spatial planning and the environmental protection process, in the implementation of the analysis as the foundation of spatial planners activities, in the methods of thinking outside the parameters, in forming clear spatial concepts and in creating a transparent management spatial system and also in the enforcement the participatory processes.

Increased spontaneous MEG signal diversity for psychoactive doses of ketamine, LSD and psilocybin

Science.gov (United States)

Schartner, Michael M.; Carhart-Harris, Robin L.; Barrett, Adam B.; Seth, Anil K.; Muthukumaraswamy, Suresh D.

2017-04-01

What is the level of consciousness of the psychedelic state? Empirically, measures of neural signal diversity such as entropy and Lempel-Ziv (LZ) complexity score higher for wakeful rest than for states with lower conscious level like propofol-induced anesthesia. Here we compute these measures for spontaneous magnetoencephalographic (MEG) signals from humans during altered states of consciousness induced by three psychedelic substances: psilocybin, ketamine and LSD. For all three, we find reliably higher spontaneous signal diversity, even when controlling for spectral changes. This increase is most pronounced for the single-channel LZ complexity measure, and hence for temporal, as opposed to spatial, signal diversity. We also uncover selective correlations between changes in signal diversity and phenomenological reports of the intensity of psychedelic experience. This is the first time that these measures have been applied to the psychedelic state and, crucially, that they have yielded values exceeding those of normal waking consciousness. These findings suggest that the sustained occurrence of psychedelic phenomenology constitutes an elevated level of consciousness - as measured by neural signal diversity.

Amplified spontaneous emission of an end-pumped cesium vapor laser

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

An, Guofei; Wang, You; Cai, He; Han, Juhong; Wang, Shunyan; Rong, Kepeng; Yu, Hang; Xue, Liangping; Zhang, Wei; Wang, Hongyuan; Zhou, Jie

2017-01-01

Diode pumped alkali lasers (DPALs) provide a significant potential for construction of high-powered lasers. A series of models have been established to analyze the DPAL’s kinetic process and most of them are based on the algorithms in which the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) effect has not been considered. However, ASE is harmful in realization of a high-powered DPAL since the gain is very high. Usually, ASE becomes serious when the volume of the gain medium is large and the pump power is high. Basically, the conclusions we obtained in this study can be extended to other kinds of laser configurations. (paper)

A Barnes Maze for Juvenile Rats Delineates the Emergence of Spatial Navigation Ability

Science.gov (United States)

McHail, Daniel G.; Valibeigi, Nazanin; Dumas, Theodore C.

2018-01-01

The neural bases of cognition may be greatly informed by relating temporally defined developmental changes in behavior with concurrent alterations in neural function. A robust improvement in performance in spatial learning and memory tasks occurs at 3 wk of age in rodents. We reported that the developmental increase of spontaneous alternation in a…

Osteonecrosis or spontaneous fractures following renal transplantation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andresen, J.; Nielsen, H.E.; Aarhus Univ.

1981-01-01

31 renal transplant recipients with posttransplant development of osteonecrosis or spontaneous fractures were evaluated with regard to age, duration of dialysis before transplantation. Determination of metacarpal bone mass at the time of transplantation and registration of bone resorption and soft tissue calcification at the time of transplantation and at the time of onset of osteonecrosis and spontaneous fractures were made. Apart from the increased mean age in patients with spontaneous fractures no difference was seen between the groups. Osteonecrosis and spontaneous fractures occurred in areas of trabecular bone. It seems most likely that after renal transplantation the patients show bone complications of different localization. (orig.) [de

String dynamics, spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry, and dual scalar field theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Luxin

2009-01-01

The dynamics of a vortex string, which describes the Nambu-Goldstone modes of the spontaneous breakdown of the target space D=4, N=1 supersymmetry and internal U(1) R symmetry to the world sheet ISO(1,1) symmetry, is constructed by using the approach of nonlinear realization. The resulting action describing the low energy oscillations of the string into the covolume (super)space is found to have an invariant synthesis form of the Akulov-Volkov and Nambu-Goto actions. Its dual scalar field action is obtained by means of introducing two vectorial Lagrangian multipliers into the action of the string.

Light-front quantized field theory (an introduction): spontaneous symmetry breaking. Phase transition in φ4 theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Srivastava, Prem P.

1994-01-01

The Dirac procedure is used to construct the Hamiltonian formulation of the scalar field theory on the light-front. The theory is quantized and the mechanism of the spontaneous symmetry breaking in the front form and the instant form dynamics are compared. The phase transition in (φ 4 )2 theory is also discussed and found to be of the second order. (author). 36 refs

A Case of Spontaneously Resolved Bilateral Primary Spontaneous Pneumothorax

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hasan Kahraman

2014-03-01

Full Text Available A condition of intrapleural air-space accumulation in individuals without any history of trauma or lung disease is called as primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP. Sixteen-years-old male patient admitted with complains of chest pain and dyspnea beginning 3 day ago. On physical examination, severity of breath sounds decreased on right side. Chest radiograph was taken and right-sided pneumothorax was detected and tube thoracostomy was inserted. Two months ago the patient referred to a doctor with similar complaints and physical examination and chest radiograph were reported as normal. The radiograph was retrospectively examined and bilateral PSP was detected. We presented the case duo to spontaneous recovery of bilateral PSP is seen very rarely and so contributes data to the literature. In patients admitted to the clinic with chest pain and shortness of breath, pneumothorax should be considered at differential diagnosis.

Maternal underweight and the risk of spontaneous abortion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Helgstrand, Stine; Andersen, Anne-Marie Nybo

2005-01-01

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the risk of spontaneous abortion in relation to maternal pre-pregnant underweight. METHODS: The study was designed as a cohort study within the framework of the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC). The participants were a total of 23 821 women recruited consecutively...... spontaneous abortion. Relative risk of spontaneous abortion was calculated as Hazard Ratios using Cox regression with delayed entry. RESULTS: The outcome measure was spontaneous abortion. The hazard ratio for spontaneous abortion in women with a pre-pregnant body mass index (BMI) below 18.5 was 1.24 (95......% confidence limits 0.95-1.63) compared to women with pre-pregnant BMI 18.5-24.9. Women with a BMI of 25 or more had a smaller increase in risk of spontaneous abortion. Adjustment for maternal age, parity, previous miscarriages, and lifestyle factors did not affect the estimates substantially, neither did...

Integrating Spatial and Attribute Characteristics of Extended Voronoi Diagrams in Spatial Patterning Research: A Case Study of Wuhan City in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zuohua Miao

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Rapid urbanization has caused numerous problems, and the urban spatial structure has been a hot topic in sustainable development management. Urban spatial structure is affected by a series of factors. Thus, the research model should synthetically consider the spatial and non-spatial relationship of every element. Here, we propose an extended Voronoi diagram for exploring the urban land spatial pattern. In essence, we first used a principal component analysis method to construct attribute evaluation indicators and obtained the attribute distance for each indicator. Second, we integrated spatial and attribute distances to extend the comparison distance for Voronoi diagrams, and then, we constructed the Voronoi aggregative homogeneous map of the study area. Finally, we make a spatial autocorrelation analysis by using GeoDA and SPSS software. Results show that: (1 the residential land cover aggregation is not significant, but spatial diffusion is obvious; (2 the commercial land cover aggregation is considerable; and (3 the spatial agglomeration degree of the industrial land cover is increased and mainly located in urban fringes. According to the neo-Marxist theory, we briefly analyzed the driving forces for shaping the urban spatial structure. To summarize, our approach yields important insights into the urban spatial structure characterized by attribute similarity with geospatial proximity, which contributes to a better understanding of the urban growth mechanism. In addition, it explicitly identifies ongoing urban transformations, potentially supporting the planning for sustainable urban land use and protection.

Spontaneous deregulation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Edelman, Benjamin; Geradin, Damien

Platform businesses such as Airbnb and Uber have risen to success partly by sidestepping laws and regulations that encumber their traditional competitors. Such rule flouting is what the authors call “spontaneous private deregulation,” and it’s happening in a growing number of industries. The authors

Spontaneous Cognition and Epistemic Agency in the Cognitive Niche

Science.gov (United States)

Fabry, Regina E.

2018-01-01

According to Thomas Metzinger, many human cognitive processes in the waking state are spontaneous and are deprived of the experience of epistemic agency. He considers mind wandering as a paradigm example of our recurring loss of epistemic agency. I will enrich this view by extending the scope of the concept of epistemic agency to include cases of depressive rumination and creative cognition, which are additional types of spontaneous cognition. Like mind wandering, they are characterized by unique phenomenal and functional properties that give rise to varying degrees of epistemic agency. The main claim of this paper will be that the experience of being an epistemic agent within a certain time frame is a relational phenomenon that emerges from the organism’s capacity to interact with its cognitive niche. To explore this relation, I develop a new framework that integrates phenomenological considerations on epistemic agency with a functional account of the reciprocal coupling of the embodied organism with its cognitive niche. This account rests upon dynamical accounts of strong embodied and embedded cognition and recent work on cognitive niche construction. Importantly, epistemic agency and organism-niche coupling are gradual phenomena ranging from weak to strong realizations. The emerging framework will be employed to analyze mind wandering, depressive rumination, and creative cognition as well as their commonalities and differences. Mind wandering and depressive rumination are cases of weak epistemic agency and organism-niche coupling. However, there are also important phenomenological, functional, and neuronal differences. In contrast, creative cognition is a case of strong epistemic agency and organism-niche coupling. By providing a phenomenological and functional analysis of these distinct types of spontaneous cognition, we can gain a better understanding of the importance of organism-niche interaction for the realization of epistemic agency.

A case of spontaneous ventriculocisternostomy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamane, Kanji; Yoshimoto, Hisanori; Harada, Kiyoshi; Uozumi, Tohru; Kuwabara, Satoshi.

1983-01-01

The authors experienced a case of spontaneous ventriculocisternostomy diagnosed by CT scan with metrizamide and Conray. Patient was 23-year-old male who had been in good health until one month before admission, when he began to have headache and tinnitus. He noticed bilateral visual acuity was decreased about one week before admission and vomiting appeared two days before admission. He was admitted to our hospital because of bilateral papilledema and remarkable hydrocephalus diagnosed by CT scan. On admission, no abnormal neurological signs except for bilateral papilledema were noted. Immediately, right ventricular drainage was performed. Pressure of the ventricle was over 300mmH 2 O and CSF was clear. PVG and PEG disclosed an another cavity behind the third ventricle, which was communicated with the third ventricle, and occlusion of aqueduct of Sylvius. Metrizamide CT scan and Conray CT scan showed a communication between this cavity and quadrigeminal and supracerebellar cisterns. On these neuroradiological findings, the diagnosis of obstructive hydrocephalus due to benign aqueduct stenosis accompanied with spontaneous ventriculocisternostomy was obtained. Spontaneous ventriculocisternostomy was noticed to produce arrest of hydrocephalus, but with our case, spontaneous regression of such symptoms did not appeared. By surgical ventriculocisternostomy (method by Torkildsen, Dandy, or Scarff), arrest of hydrocephalus was seen in about 50 to 70 per cent, which was the same results as those of spontaneous ventriculocisternostomy. It is concluded that VP shunt or VA shunt is thought to be better treatment of obstructive hydrocephalus than the various kinds of surgical ventriculocisternostomy. (J.P.N.)

Numerical Approach to Spatial Deterministic-Stochastic Models Arising in Cell Biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Schaff, James C; Gao, Fei; Li, Ye; Novak, Igor L; Slepchenko, Boris M

2016-12-01

Hybrid deterministic-stochastic methods provide an efficient alternative to a fully stochastic treatment of models which include components with disparate levels of stochasticity. However, general-purpose hybrid solvers for spatially resolved simulations of reaction-diffusion systems are not widely available. Here we describe fundamentals of a general-purpose spatial hybrid method. The method generates realizations of a spatially inhomogeneous hybrid system by appropriately integrating capabilities of a deterministic partial differential equation solver with a popular particle-based stochastic simulator, Smoldyn. Rigorous validation of the algorithm is detailed, using a simple model of calcium 'sparks' as a testbed. The solver is then applied to a deterministic-stochastic model of spontaneous emergence of cell polarity. The approach is general enough to be implemented within biologist-friendly software frameworks such as Virtual Cell.

STAT4 genetic polymorphisms association with spontaneous clearance of hepatitis B virus infection.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Yanjun; Zhu, Yaowu; Peng, Jing; Wang, Xiong; Wang, Feng; Sun, Ziyong

2015-06-01

STAT4 signal pathway plays an important role in IFN-γ-mediated antiviral activity. Recent studies show an association of STAT4 polymorphisms with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. We therefore investigated the influence of STAT4 polymorphisms on the susceptibility of spontaneous clearance of HBV in a Chinese Han population. Genomic DNA from 288 cases with chronic HBV infection and 288 controls who spontaneously recovered from HBV infection was analyzed for five SNPs in the STAT4 gene (rs7574865, rs7572482, rs7582694 rs11889341, and rs8179673).Our analysis revealed that all the minor alleles of the four SNPs (rs7574865, rs7582694, rs11889341, and rs8179673) had an association with overall decreased risk to HBV infection [p = 0.040, OR 0.762 (95 % CI 0.593-0.981); p = 0.011, OR 0.686 (95 % CI 0.535-0.878); p = 0.023, OR 0.751 (95 % CI 0.586-0.962); p = 0.002, OR 0.670 (95 % CI 0.521-0.861), respectively]. The major alleles of the four SNPs were found to be associated with increased risk of HBV-related cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Furthermore, the haplotype GGGCT constructed from the five SNPs was found to have a highly significant association with chronic HBV infection when compared to the controls who spontaneously recovered from HBV infection [p = 0.031, OR 1.368 (95 % CI 1.028-1.818)]. These findings indicate that STAT4 minor allele may be associated with the spontaneous clearance of HBV, whereas the major allele may be associated with the progress of the HBV-related liver disease.

Quantifying emissions from spontaneous combustion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2013-09-01

Spontaneous combustion can be a significant problem in the coal industry, not only due to the obvious safety hazard and the potential loss of valuable assets, but also with respect to the release of gaseous pollutants, especially CO2, from uncontrolled coal fires. This report reviews methodologies for measuring emissions from spontaneous combustion and discusses methods for quantifying, estimating and accounting for the purpose of preparing emission inventories.

Exploring Spontaneous Imitation in Infancy: A Three Generation Inter-Familial Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Theano Kokkinaki

2013-05-01

Full Text Available With the aim to advance our understanding regarding the role of the extended family interactional context for early mother-infant communication, we compared spontaneous early imitative exchanges in dyadic interactions between mothers and infants (Group 1, N = 26 who had no frequent contact with maternal grandmothers, to imitations in two familial subgroups (Group 2, N = 48: (a dyadic interactions of infants with their mothers, and (b with their grandmothers–persons who had frequent contact with the infant. Spontaneous dyadic interactions of infants with their mothers and grandmothers were video-recorded at home from the 2nd to the 10th month of their life. Both comparisons provided evidence of similar frequency of imitative exchanges and developmental trajectories of infant imitations, but also differences in the structure of imitation, the kinds of imitated behaviors and the temporal patterns of imitative components. In the frame of the theory of Innate Intersubjectivity, we assume that differential early family interaction may be related to variations in three fundamental dimensions of infant-significant other communication: “kinematics” (temporal patterns, “physiognomics” (spatial patterns or forms and “energetics” (force or effort. These variations may affect the child’s ability for regulation and negotiation of interpersonal challenges within and outside the family context.

Research on spontaneous activity in adult anisometropic amblyopia with regional homogeneity

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yufeng; Zhou, Yifeng

2017-06-01

Amblyopia usually occurs in early childhood and results in monocular visual impairment. The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have reflected functional anomaly in amblyopia. In resting-state fMRI study, spontaneous activity changes abnormally in anisometropic amblyopia could be revealed by the regional homogeneity (ReHo). Twenty two adult anisometropic amblyopes and Twenty one normal controls participated in this fMRI study. Two sample T test was carried out to analysis ReHo within the whole brain for the inter groups. Compare with normal group, our study found that the amblyopia’s ReHo mainly increased in the left frontal lobe, while decreased in the left cerebellum, the temporal lobe (left and right), and the left parietal lobe. And the ReHo values in middle and inferior temporal lobe, the prefrontal lobe, frontal lobe (positive) and parietal lobe and medial frontal gyrus (negative) could be correlated with the acuity deficit of amblyopia. The results increased in ReHo may indicate compensatory plasticity in higher vision information process, while the decreased in ReHo may reflect decreased ability in eye movement, spatial sense and visuo-motor coordination. The correlation revealed that the vision deficit may correspond to the spontaneous in certain brain area.

Spontaneous calf haematoma: case report.

Science.gov (United States)

Zubaidah, N H; Liew, N C

2014-02-01

Spontaneous calf haematoma is a rare condition and few case reports have been published in the English literature. Common conditions like deep vein thrombosis and traumatic gastrocnemius muscle tear need to be considered when a patient presents with unilateral calf swelling and tenderness. Ultrasound and Magnetic Resonance Imaging are essential for confirmation of diagnosis. The purpose of this paper is to report on a rare case of spontaneous calf hematoma and its diagnosis and management.

Cooperative spontaneous emission from volume sources in layered media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nichelatti, E.

2009-01-01

The classical theory of radiation from a dipole located inside a microcavity is extended to the case of a volume source placed inside a layered medium. Cooperation phenomena that can take place in the spontaneous emission process are taken into account with an approach based on the theory of spatial coherence. Three cases are considered: noncooperation, long-range cooperation, and short-range cooperation. In all these cases, the expressions found for the out coupled power are analytical. As an application of the theory, an Alq 3 -based organic light emitting diode is analyzed. The optical properties of the device are evaluated and compared for two different types of cathode, one consisting of an Al layer, the other one consisting of an Al/LiF bi-layer. The results found show that the ultra-thin LiF layer significantly improves extraction efficiency [it

F. VON HAYEK’S THEORY OF SPONTANEOUS ORDER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

О. Nesterenko

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The essence and the genesis of spontaneous order are disclosed in the context of critical analysis of constructivism. The author’s approach to the definition of the characteristic features of the spontaneous order is proposed. The dichotomy of the order is revealed towards the economic sphere in form of spontaneous order and organization.

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum after bench press training.

Science.gov (United States)

Nishino, Tomoya

2017-04-01

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum is often associated with asthma and mainly affects adolescent males with a tall, thin body habitus. A 17-year-old man complained of chest and pharyngeal pain after bench press training and spontaneous pneumomediastinum was diagnosed. It should be considered in the differential diagnosis of chest pain of uncertain cause.

Spontaneous cooperation for prosocials, but not for proselfs: Social value orientation moderates spontaneous cooperation behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Mischkowski, Dorothee; Glöckner, Andreas

2016-01-01

Cooperation is essential for the success of societies and there is an ongoing debate whether individuals have therefore developed a general spontaneous tendency to cooperate or not. Findings that cooperative behavior is related to shorter decision times provide support for the spontaneous cooperation effect, although contrary results have also been reported. We show that cooperative behavior is better described as person × situation interaction, in that there is a spontaneous cooperation effect for prosocial but not for proself persons. In three studies, one involving population representative samples from the US and Germany, we found that cooperation in a public good game is dependent on an interaction between individuals’ social value orientation and decision time. Increasing deliberation about the dilemma situation does not affect persons that are selfish to begin with, but it is related to decreasing cooperation for prosocial persons that gain positive utility from outcomes of others and score high on the related general personality trait honesty/humility. Our results demonstrate that the spontaneous cooperation hypothesis has to be qualified in that it is limited to persons with a specific personality and social values. Furthermore, they allow reconciling conflicting previous findings by identifying an important moderator for the effect. PMID:26876773

A reciprocal framework for spatial K-anonymity

KAUST Repository

Ghinita, Gabriel; Zhao, Keliang; Papadias, Dimitris; Kalnis, Panos

2010-01-01

Spatial K-anonymity (SKA) exploits the concept of K-anonymity in order to protect the identity of users from location-based attacks. The main idea of SKA is to replace the exact location of a user U with an anonymizing spatial region (ASR) that contains at least K-1 other users, so that an attacker can pinpoint U with probability at most 1/K. Simply generating an ASR that includes K users does not guarantee SKA. Previous work defined the reciprocity property as a sufficient condition for SKA. However, the only existing reciprocal method, Hilbert Cloak, relies on a specialized data structure. In contrast, we propose a general framework for implementing reciprocal algorithms using any existing spatial index on the user locations. We discuss ASR construction methods with different tradeoffs on effectiveness (i.e., ASR size) and efficiency (i.e., construction cost). Then, we present case studies of applying our framework on top of two popular spatial indices (namely, R*-trees and Quad-trees). Finally, we consider the case where the attacker knows the query patterns of each user. The experimental results verify that our methods outperform Hilbert Cloak. Moreover, since we employ general-purpose spatial indices, the proposed system is not limited to anonymization, but supports conventional spatial queries as well. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A reciprocal framework for spatial K-anonymity

KAUST Repository

Ghinita, Gabriel

2010-05-01

Spatial K-anonymity (SKA) exploits the concept of K-anonymity in order to protect the identity of users from location-based attacks. The main idea of SKA is to replace the exact location of a user U with an anonymizing spatial region (ASR) that contains at least K-1 other users, so that an attacker can pinpoint U with probability at most 1/K. Simply generating an ASR that includes K users does not guarantee SKA. Previous work defined the reciprocity property as a sufficient condition for SKA. However, the only existing reciprocal method, Hilbert Cloak, relies on a specialized data structure. In contrast, we propose a general framework for implementing reciprocal algorithms using any existing spatial index on the user locations. We discuss ASR construction methods with different tradeoffs on effectiveness (i.e., ASR size) and efficiency (i.e., construction cost). Then, we present case studies of applying our framework on top of two popular spatial indices (namely, R*-trees and Quad-trees). Finally, we consider the case where the attacker knows the query patterns of each user. The experimental results verify that our methods outperform Hilbert Cloak. Moreover, since we employ general-purpose spatial indices, the proposed system is not limited to anonymization, but supports conventional spatial queries as well. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

How Objects Shape Logics in Construction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tryggestad, Kjell; Georg, Susse

2011-01-01

The notion of institutional logics is a key tenet in institutional theory but few studies have attended to the micro‐foundations of logics. The sociology of associations is used to explore the micro‐foundations of logics, their emergence and temporal–spatial importance. A case study of the constr......The notion of institutional logics is a key tenet in institutional theory but few studies have attended to the micro‐foundations of logics. The sociology of associations is used to explore the micro‐foundations of logics, their emergence and temporal–spatial importance. A case study...... and identities as emergent and contingent outcomes of the material practices of building construction. The argument is concluded by considering the building construction as a materially mediated meaning structure....

Spatial analysis statistics, visualization, and computational methods

CERN Document Server

Oyana, Tonny J

2015-01-01

An introductory text for the next generation of geospatial analysts and data scientists, Spatial Analysis: Statistics, Visualization, and Computational Methods focuses on the fundamentals of spatial analysis using traditional, contemporary, and computational methods. Outlining both non-spatial and spatial statistical concepts, the authors present practical applications of geospatial data tools, techniques, and strategies in geographic studies. They offer a problem-based learning (PBL) approach to spatial analysis-containing hands-on problem-sets that can be worked out in MS Excel or ArcGIS-as well as detailed illustrations and numerous case studies. The book enables readers to: Identify types and characterize non-spatial and spatial data Demonstrate their competence to explore, visualize, summarize, analyze, optimize, and clearly present statistical data and results Construct testable hypotheses that require inferential statistical analysis Process spatial data, extract explanatory variables, conduct statisti...

Spatial Outlier Detection of CO2 Monitoring Data Based on Spatial Local Outlier Factor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liu Xin

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Spatial local outlier factor (SLOF algorithm was adopted in this study for spatial outlier detection because of the limitations of the traditional static threshold detection. Based on the spatial characteristics of CO2 monitoring data obtained in the carbon capture and storage (CCS project, the K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN graph was constructed using the latitude and longitude information of the monitoring points to identify the spatial neighbourhood of the monitoring points. Then SLOF was adopted to calculate the outlier degrees of the monitoring points and the 3σ rule was employed to identify the spatial outlier. Finally, the selection of K value was analysed and the optimal one was selected. The results show that, compared with the static threshold method, the proposed algorithm has a higher detection precision. It can overcome the shortcomings of the static threshold method and improve the accuracy and diversity of local outlier detection, which provides a reliable reference for the safety assessment and warning of CCS monitoring.

Nonlinear spatial mode imaging of hybrid photonic crystal fibers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Sidsel Rübner; Alkeskjold, Thomas Tanggaard; Laurila, Marko

2013-01-01

Degenerate spontaneous four wave mixing is studied for the rst time in a large mode area hybrid photonic crystal ber, where light con nement is achieved by combined index- and bandgap guiding. Four wave mixing products are generated on the edges of the bandgaps, which is veri ed by numerical and ...... and experimental results. Since the core mode is in resonance with cladding modes near the bandedges an unconventional measurement technique is used, in this work named nonlinear spatial mode imaging....

Spontaneous ischaemic stroke in dogs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gredal, Hanne Birgit; Skerritt, G. C.; Gideon, P.

2013-01-01

Translation of experimental stroke research into the clinical setting is often unsuccessful. Novel approaches are therefore desirable. As humans, pet dogs suffer from spontaneous ischaemic stroke and may hence offer new ways of studying genuine stroke injury mechanisms.......Translation of experimental stroke research into the clinical setting is often unsuccessful. Novel approaches are therefore desirable. As humans, pet dogs suffer from spontaneous ischaemic stroke and may hence offer new ways of studying genuine stroke injury mechanisms....

Spontaneity and international marketing performance

OpenAIRE

Souchon, Anne L.; Hughes, Paul; Farrell, Andrew M.; Nemkova, Ekaterina; Oliveira, Joao S.

2016-01-01

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link. Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to ascertain how today’s international marketers can perform better on the global scene by harnessing spontaneity. Design/methodology/approach – The authors draw on contingency theory to develop a model of the spontaneity – international marketing performance relationship, and identify three potential m...

Analysis of the Spontaneous Abortion in Chinese Married Women

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

高尔生; 邓新清; 何更生; 方可娟; 唐威; 楼超华

1994-01-01

The spontaneous abortion is a common type of pregnant outcomes. The spontaneous abortion rate can be used to indicate the women's fecundity and the level of the reproductive health. It is also a sensitive indicator for determing the social, economic, and health status and prenatal care. To explore the preventive method for spontaneous abortion and improve women's health level, it is important to evaluate the status of spontaneous abortion and to determine the factors affecting

Is Social Categorization Spatially Organized in a "Mental Line"? Empirical Evidences for Spatial Bias in Intergroup Differentiation.

Science.gov (United States)

Presaghi, Fabio; Rullo, Marika

2018-01-01

Social categorization is the differentiation between the self and others and between one's own group and other groups and it is such a natural and spontaneous process that often we are not aware of it. The way in which the brain organizes social categorization remains an unresolved issue. We present three experiments investigating the hypothesis that social categories are mentally ordered from left to right on an ingroup-outgroup continuum when membership is salient. To substantiate our hypothesis, we consider empirical evidence from two areas of psychology: research on differences in processing of ingroups and outgroups and research on the effects of spatial biases on processing of quantitative information (e.g., time; numbers) which appears to be arranged from left to right on a small-large continuum, an effect known as the spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC). In Experiments 1 and 2 we tested the hypothesis that when membership of a social category is activated, people implicitly locate ingroup categories to the left of a mental line whereas outgroup categories are located on the far right of the same mental line. This spatial organization persists even when stimuli are presented on one of the two sides of the screen and their (explicit) position is spatially incompatible with the implicit mental spatial organization of social categories (Experiment 3). Overall the results indicate that ingroups and outgroups are processed differently. The results are discussed with respect to social categorization theory, spatial agency bias, i.e., the effect observed in Western cultures whereby the agent of an action is mentally represented on the left and the recipient on the right, and the SNARC effect.

Spontaneous Vesicle Recycling in the Synaptic Bouton

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sven eTruckenbrodt

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The trigger for synaptic vesicle exocytosis is Ca2+, which enters the synaptic bouton following action potential stimulation. However, spontaneous release of neurotransmitter also occurs in the absence of stimulation in virtually all synaptic boutons. It has long been thought that this represents exocytosis driven by fluctuations in local Ca2+ levels. The vesicles responding to these fluctuations are thought to be the same ones that release upon stimulation, albeit potentially triggered by different Ca2+ sensors. This view has been challenged by several recent works, which have suggested that spontaneous release is driven by a separate pool of synaptic vesicles. Numerous articles appeared during the last few years in support of each of these hypotheses, and it has been challenging to bring them into accord. We speculate here on the origins of this controversy, and propose a solution that is related to developmental effects. Constitutive membrane traffic, needed for the biogenesis of vesicles and synapses, is responsible for high levels of spontaneous membrane fusion in young neurons, probably independent of Ca2+. The vesicles releasing spontaneously in such neurons are not related to other synaptic vesicle pools and may represent constitutively releasing vesicles (CRVs rather than bona fide synaptic vesicles. In mature neurons, constitutive traffic is much dampened, and the few remaining spontaneous release events probably represent bona fide spontaneously releasing synaptic vesicles (SRSVs responding to Ca2+ fluctuations, along with a handful of CRVs that participate in synaptic vesicle turnover.

Spontaneous Atraumatic Mediastinal Hemorrhage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Morkos Iskander BSc, BMBS, MRCS, PGCertMedEd

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Spontaneous atraumatic mediastinal hematomas are rare. We present a case of a previously fit and well middle-aged lady who presented with acute breathlessness and an increasing neck swelling and spontaneous neck bruising. On plain chest radiograph, widening of the mediastinum was noted. The bruising was later confirmed to be secondary to mediastinal hematoma. This life-threatening diagnostic conundrum was managed conservatively with a multidisciplinary team approach involving upper gastrointestinal and thoracic surgeons, gastroenterologists, radiologists, intensivists, and hematologists along with a variety of diagnostic modalities. A review of literature is also presented to help surgeons manage such challenging and complicated cases.

Spontaneous Retropharyngeal Emphysema: A Case Report | Chi ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... is a rare clinical condition in pediatric otolaryngology. The predominant symptoms are sore throat, odynophagia, dysphagia, and neck pain. Here, we report a case of spontaneous retropharyngeal emphysema. Keywords: Iatrogenic injury, retropharyngeal emphysema, spontaneous retropharyngeal emphysem, trauma ...

Spontaneous regression of pulmonary bullae

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Satoh, H.; Ishikawa, H.; Ohtsuka, M.; Sekizawa, K.

2002-01-01

The natural history of pulmonary bullae is often characterized by gradual, progressive enlargement. Spontaneous regression of bullae is, however, very rare. We report a case in which complete resolution of pulmonary bullae in the left upper lung occurred spontaneously. The management of pulmonary bullae is occasionally made difficult because of gradual progressive enlargement associated with abnormal pulmonary function. Some patients have multiple bulla in both lungs and/or have a history of pulmonary emphysema. Others have a giant bulla without emphysematous change in the lungs. Our present case had treated lung cancer with no evidence of local recurrence. He had no emphysematous change in lung function test and had no complaints, although the high resolution CT scan shows evidence of underlying minimal changes of emphysema. Ortin and Gurney presented three cases of spontaneous reduction in size of bulla. Interestingly, one of them had a marked decrease in the size of a bulla in association with thickening of the wall of the bulla, which was observed in our patient. This case we describe is of interest, not only because of the rarity with which regression of pulmonary bulla has been reported in the literature, but also because of the spontaneous improvements in the radiological picture in the absence of overt infection or tumor. Copyright (2002) Blackwell Science Pty Ltd

Video-assisted thoracoscopy treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Haitao; Ren Jian; Che Jiaming; Hang Junbiao; Qiu Weicheng; Chen Zhongyuan

2002-01-01

Objective: To propose a treatment protocol by video thoracoscopy in spontaneous pneumothorax. Methods: One hundred and three patients underwent Video-assisted thoracoscopy (VATS) treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax and hemothorax. Indications included recurrent pneumothorax, persistent air leakage following conservative therapy, complicated hemothorax and CT scan identified bullae formation. Results: No operative deaths occurred, conversion rate was 2.91%, recurrence rate was 0.97%, complication rate was 3.81% and mean postoperative hospital stay was 5.6 days. Conclusions: VATS treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax is better than open chest surgery and also superior than conservative therapy

Spontaneous Dissection of the Superior Mesenteric Artery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sheldon, Patrick J.; Esther, James B.; Sheldon, Elana L.; Sparks, Steven R.; Brophy, David P.; Oglevie, Steven B.

2001-01-01

Spontaneous dissection of the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) is a rare occurrence, especially when not associated with aortic dissection. Currently, only 28 cases appear to have been reported. Due to the scarcity of cases in the literature, the natural history of isolated, spontaneous SMA dissection is unclear. CT has been reported to be useful for the initial diagnosis of SMA dissection [2-5]. We present two recent cases of spontaneous SMA dissection in which enhanced spiral CT was instrumental in following the disease process and guiding clinical decision making

Spatial working memory interferes with explicit, but not probabilistic cuing of spatial attention

Science.gov (United States)

Won, Bo-Yeong; Jiang, Yuhong V.

2014-01-01

Recent empirical and theoretical work has depicted a close relationship between visual attention and visual working memory. For example, rehearsal in spatial working memory depends on spatial attention, whereas adding a secondary spatial working memory task impairs attentional deployment in visual search. These findings have led to the proposal that working memory is attention directed toward internal representations. Here we show that the close relationship between these two constructs is limited to some but not all forms of spatial attention. In five experiments, participants held color arrays, dot locations, or a sequence of dots in working memory. During the memory retention interval they performed a T-among-L visual search task. Crucially, the probable target location was cued either implicitly through location probability learning, or explicitly with a central arrow or verbal instruction. Our results showed that whereas imposing a visual working memory load diminished the effectiveness of explicit cuing, it did not interfere with probability cuing. We conclude that spatial working memory shares similar mechanisms with explicit, goal-driven attention but is dissociated from implicitly learned attention. PMID:25401460

Endometriosis-related spontaneous diaphragmatic rupture.

Science.gov (United States)

Triponez, Frédéric; Alifano, Marco; Bobbio, Antonio; Regnard, Jean-François

2010-10-01

Non-traumatic, spontaneous diaphragmatic rupture is a rare event whose pathophysiology is not known. We report the case of endometriosis-related spontaneous rupture of the right diaphragm with intrathoracic herniation of the liver, gallbladder and colon. We hypothesize that the invasiveness of endometriotic tissue caused diaphragm fragility, which finally lead to its complete rupture without traumatic event. The treatment consisted of a classical management of diaphragmatic rupture, with excision of the endometriotic nodule followed by medical ovarian suppression for six months.

Spontaneous Scalarization: Dead or Alive?

Science.gov (United States)

Berti, Emanuele; Crispino, Luis; Gerosa, Davide; Gualtieri, Leonardo; Horbatsch, Michael; Macedo, Caio; Okada da Silva, Hector; Pani, Paolo; Sotani, Hajime; Sperhake, Ulrich

2015-04-01

In 1993, Damour and Esposito-Farese showed that a wide class of scalar-tensor theories can pass weak-field gravitational tests and exhibit nonperturbative strong-field deviations away from General Relativity in systems involving neutron stars. These deviations are possible in the presence of ``spontaneous scalarization,'' a phase transition similar in nature to spontaneous magnetization in ferromagnets. More than twenty years after the original proposal, binary pulsar experiments have severely constrained the possibility of spontaneous scalarization occurring in nature. I will show that these experimental constraints have important implications for the torsional oscillation frequencies of neutron stars and for the so-called ``I-Love-Q'' relations in scalar-tensor theories. I will also argue that there is still hope to observe strong scalarization effects, despite the strong experimental bounds on the original mechanism. In particular, I will discuss two mechanisms that could produce strong scalarization in neutron stars: anisotropy and multiscalarization. This work was supported by NSF CAREER Award PHY-1055103.

Detection of target phonemes in spontaneous and read speech.

Science.gov (United States)

Mehta, G; Cutler, A

1988-01-01

Although spontaneous speech occurs more frequently in most listeners' experience than read speech, laboratory studies of human speech recognition typically use carefully controlled materials read from a script. The phonological and prosodic characteristics of spontaneous and read speech differ considerably, however, which suggests that laboratory results may not generalise to the recognition of spontaneous speech. In the present study listeners were presented with both spontaneous and read speech materials, and their response time to detect word-initial target phonemes was measured. Responses were, overall, equally fast in each speech mode. However, analysis of effects previously reported in phoneme detection studies revealed significant differences between speech modes. In read speech but not in spontaneous speech, later targets were detected more rapidly than targets preceded by short words. In contrast, in spontaneous speech but not in read speech, targets were detected more rapidly in accented than in unaccented words and in strong than in weak syllables. An explanation for this pattern is offered in terms of characteristic prosodic differences between spontaneous and read speech. The results support claims from previous work that listeners pay great attention to prosodic information in the process of recognising speech.

Spontaneous CP violation on the lattice

CERN Document Server

Laine, Mikko

2000-01-01

At finite temperatures around the electroweak phase transition, the thermodynamics of the MSSM can be described by a three-dimensional two Higgs doublet effective theory. This effective theory has a phase where CP is spontaneously violated. We study spontaneous CP violation with non-perturbative lattice simulations, and analyse whether one could end up in this phase for any physical MSSM parameter values.

Middle-School Students' Map Construction: Understanding Complex Spatial Displays.

Science.gov (United States)

Bausmith, Jennifer Merriman; Leinhardt, Gaea

1998-01-01

Examines the map-making process of middle-school students to determine which actions influence their accuracy, how prior knowledge helps their map construction, and what lessons can be learned from map making. Indicates that instruction that focuses on recognition of interconnections between map elements can promote map reasoning skills. (DSK)

Spontaneous pneumothorax associated with lung cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sung, Dong Wook; Jung, Seung Hyae; Yoon, Yup; Lim, Jae Hoon; Cho, Kyu Soek; Yang, Moon Ho

1991-01-01

Spontaneous pneumothorax is a rare manifestation of lung cancer. Eight cases of pneumothorax found in 1648 patients with lung cancer from 1979-1990 are reported. Histopathologic types of cancer were adenocarcinoma in three cases, squamous cell carcinoma in two cases, bronchioloalveolar carcinoma in two cases, and metastatic renal cell carcinoma in one case. The primary tumor mass was not found even after thoracotomy in two cases. Spontaneous pneumothorax occurred on the ipsilateral side of the cancer. All the patients were more than 40 years old with a history of smoking 1-2 packs a day for 20 to 50 years, and had chronic lung diseases. The authors emphasize that bronchogenic carcinoma may be one of the causes of spontaneous pneumothorax in appropriate clinical settings

Spontaneous generation in medieval Jewish philosophy and theology.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaziel, Ahuva

2012-01-01

The concept of life forms emerging from inanimate matter--spontaneous generation--was widely accepted until the nineteenth century. Several medieval Jewish scholars acknowledged this scientific theory in their philosophical and religious contemplations. Quite interestingly, it served to reinforce diverse, or even opposite, theological conclusions. One approach excluded spontaneously-generated living beings form the biblical account of creation or the story of the Deluge. Underlying this view is an understanding that organisms that generate spontaneously evolve continuously in nature and, therefore, do not require divine intervention in their formation or survival during disastrous events. This naturalistic position reduces the miraculous dimension of reality. Others were of the opinion that spontaneous generation is one of the extraordinary marvels exhibited in this world and, accordingly, this interpretation served to accentuate the divine aspect of nature. References to spontaneous generation also appear in legal writings, influencing practical applications such as dietary laws and actions forbidden on the Sabbath.

Spontaneous low-frequency oscillations in cerebral vessels

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schytz, Henrik W; Hansson, Andreas; Phillip, Dorte

2010-01-01

). Analysis of CA by measurement of spontaneous oscillations in the low-frequency spectrum in cerebral vessels might be a useful tool for assessing risk and investigating different treatment strategies in carotid artery disease (CAD) and stroke. We reviewed studies exploring spontaneous oscillations...

Spontaneous rupture of vaginal enterocele

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svendsen, J H; Galatius, H; Hansen, P K

1985-01-01

Spontaneous rupture of an enterocele is a rare complication. Only 24 cases including the present case have been reported in the literature. The patients were elderly and had had at least one vaginal operation. The patients were remarkably unaffected symptomatically on admission.......Spontaneous rupture of an enterocele is a rare complication. Only 24 cases including the present case have been reported in the literature. The patients were elderly and had had at least one vaginal operation. The patients were remarkably unaffected symptomatically on admission....

Spontaneous emission spectra and simulating multiple spontaneous generation coherence in a five-level atomic medium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Jiahua; Liu Jibing; Qi Chunchao; Chen Aixi

2006-01-01

We investigate the features of the spontaneous emission spectra in a coherently driven cold five-level atomic system by means of a radio frequency (rf) or microwave field driving a hyperfine transition within the ground state. It is shown that a few interesting phenomena such as spectral-line narrowing, spectral-line enhancement, spectral-line suppression, and spontaneous emission quenching can be realized by modulating the frequency and intensity of the rf-driving field in our system. In the dressed-state picture of the coupling and rf-driving fields, we find that this coherently driven atomic system has three close-lying levels so that multiple spontaneously generated coherence (SGC) arises. Our considered atomic model can be found in real atoms, such as rubidium or sodium, so a corresponding experiment can be done to observe the expected phenomena related to SGC reported by Fountoulakis et al. [Phys. Rev. A 73, 033811 (2006)], since no rigorous conditions are required

Spatial characteristics of planning and construction of nautical tourism ports

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mirjana Kovačić

2007-01-01

Full Text Available This paper systematically and clearly definesthesignificanceoftheseaandcoastalareainnauticaltourismactivities’ preformances. Ecological aspect of the area is considered and the need for a systematic and multidiscipline planning of its development and the usage is pointed out. With its specificactivityandtheneedforspacearoundthe coastal line within maritime domain, nautical tourism emphasizes problems of protection of costal and sea environment. Location of nautical tourism ports and spatial planning becomes one of the most important issues. Therefore, spatial plans have to be subordinated to the protection and promotion of the environment, which implies efficient, but sensible managing of the coastal area. Authors have emphasized the importance of integral managing in the function of nautical tourism development and selection of nautical tourism ports locations. The significance of sustained research is pointed out in order to understand its role in development of country’s economy. Respecting areal and ecological aspects of nautical tourism development, a sustainable development model of nautical tourism ports has been completed. The model indicates the selection of scientific methodology using methods of multicriterial analysis and team work of experts from various fields.

Integrating spatial and numerical structure in mathematical patterning

Science.gov (United States)

Ni’mah, K.; Purwanto; Irawan, E. B.; Hidayanto, E.

2018-03-01

This paper reports a study monitoring the integrating spatial and numerical structure in mathematical patterning skills of 30 students grade 7th of junior high school. The purpose of this research is to clarify the processes by which learners construct new knowledge in mathematical patterning. Findings indicate that: (1) students are unable to organize the structure of spatial and numerical, (2) students were only able to organize the spatial structure, but the numerical structure is still incorrect, (3) students were only able to organize numerical structure, but its spatial structure is still incorrect, (4) students were able to organize both of the spatial and numerical structure.

A new class of spontaneously polarized materials

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Field, David; Plekan, Oksana; Cassidy, Andrew

2011-01-01

Very large electric fields form spontaneously within films of seemingly prosaic chemicals such as nitrous oxide or propane.We describe how the discovery of this unexpected phenomenon took place and how we attempt to understand the nature of the new class of spontaneously polarized materials...

Spontaneous rupture of choledochal cyst: case report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shin, Ho Seob; Nam, Kyung Jin; Lee, Jin Hwa; Kim, Chan Sung; Choi, Jong Cheol; Oh, Jong Young

2002-01-01

Spontaneous rupture of a choledochal cyst leading to biliary peritonitis is a rare complication which can be fatal if not promptly diagnosed. The authors report the ultrasound and CT findings of two cases of spontaneous choledochal cystic rupture and the biliary peritonitis which ensued

Spontaneous rupture of choledochal cyst: case report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shin, Ho Seob; Nam, Kyung Jin; Lee, Jin Hwa; Kim, Chan Sung; Choi, Jong Cheol; Oh, Jong Young [Dong-a University College of Medicine, Pusan (Korea, Republic of)

2002-11-01

Spontaneous rupture of a choledochal cyst leading to biliary peritonitis is a rare complication which can be fatal if not promptly diagnosed. The authors report the ultrasound and CT findings of two cases of spontaneous choledochal cystic rupture and the biliary peritonitis which ensued.

Unbiased Spontaneous Solar Fuel Production using Stable LaFeO3 Photoelectrode.

Science.gov (United States)

Pawar, Govinder S; Tahir, Asif A

2018-02-22

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting to produce solar fuel (hydrogen) has long been considered as the Holy Grail to a carbon-free hydrogen economy. The PEC concept to produce solar fuel is to emulate the natural photosynthesis using man made materials. The bottle-neck in realising the concept practically has been the difficulty in identifying stable low-cost semiconductors that meet the thermodynamic and kinetic criteria for photoelectrolysis. We have fabricated a novel p-type LaFeO 3 photoelectrode using an inexpensive and scalable spray pyrolysis method. Our nanostructured LaFeO 3 photoelectrode results in spontaneous hydrogen evolution from water without any external bias applied. Moreover, the photoelectrode has a faradaic efficiency of 30% and showed excellent stability over 21 hours. From optical and impedance data, the constructed band diagram showed that LaFeO 3 can straddle the water redox potential with the conduction band at -1.11 V above the reduction potential of hydrogen. We have fabricated a low cost LaFeO 3 photoelectrode that can spontaneously produce hydrogen from water using sunlight, making it a strong future candidate for renewable hydrogen generation.

Spontaneous symmetry breaking and its cosmological consequences

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kobzarev, I.Yu.

1975-01-01

The concept of symmetry and of the spontaneous symmetry breaking are presented in popular form as applied to quantum physics. Though the presence of the spontaneous symmetry breaking is not proved directly for interactions of elementary particles, on considering the hypothesis of its presence as applied to the hot Universe theory a possibility of obtaining rather uncommon cosmological consequences is discussed. In particular, spontaneous symmetry breaking of vacuum and the rather hot Universe lead necessarily to the presence of the domain structure of the Universe with the surfase energy at the domain interface in the form of a real physical object

Fiber transport of spatially entangled photons

Science.gov (United States)

Löffler, W.; Eliel, E. R.; Woerdman, J. P.; Euser, T. G.; Scharrer, M.; Russell, P.

2012-03-01

High-dimensional entangled photons pairs are interesting for quantum information and cryptography: Compared to the well-known 2D polarization case, the stronger non-local quantum correlations could improve noise resistance or security, and the larger amount of information per photon increases the available bandwidth. One implementation is to use entanglement in the spatial degree of freedom of twin photons created by spontaneous parametric down-conversion, which is equivalent to orbital angular momentum entanglement, this has been proven to be an excellent model system. The use of optical fiber technology for distribution of such photons has only very recently been practically demonstrated and is of fundamental and applied interest. It poses a big challenge compared to the established time and frequency domain methods: For spatially entangled photons, fiber transport requires the use of multimode fibers, and mode coupling and intermodal dispersion therein must be minimized not to destroy the spatial quantum correlations. We demonstrate that these shortcomings of conventional multimode fibers can be overcome by using a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber, which follows the paradigm to mimic free-space transport as good as possible, and are able to confirm entanglement of the fiber-transported photons. Fiber transport of spatially entangled photons is largely unexplored yet, therefore we discuss the main complications, the interplay of intermodal dispersion and mode mixing, the influence of external stress and core deformations, and consider the pros and cons of various fiber types.

Is Social Categorization Spatially Organized in a “Mental Line”? Empirical Evidences for Spatial Bias in Intergroup Differentiation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fabio Presaghi

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Social categorization is the differentiation between the self and others and between one’s own group and other groups and it is such a natural and spontaneous process that often we are not aware of it. The way in which the brain organizes social categorization remains an unresolved issue. We present three experiments investigating the hypothesis that social categories are mentally ordered from left to right on an ingroup–outgroup continuum when membership is salient. To substantiate our hypothesis, we consider empirical evidence from two areas of psychology: research on differences in processing of ingroups and outgroups and research on the effects of spatial biases on processing of quantitative information (e.g., time; numbers which appears to be arranged from left to right on a small–large continuum, an effect known as the spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC. In Experiments 1 and 2 we tested the hypothesis that when membership of a social category is activated, people implicitly locate ingroup categories to the left of a mental line whereas outgroup categories are located on the far right of the same mental line. This spatial organization persists even when stimuli are presented on one of the two sides of the screen and their (explicit position is spatially incompatible with the implicit mental spatial organization of social categories (Experiment 3. Overall the results indicate that ingroups and outgroups are processed differently. The results are discussed with respect to social categorization theory, spatial agency bias, i.e., the effect observed in Western cultures whereby the agent of an action is mentally represented on the left and the recipient on the right, and the SNARC effect.

Shared risk aversion in spontaneous and induced abortion.

Science.gov (United States)

Catalano, Ralph; Bruckner, Tim A; Karasek, Deborah; Adler, Nancy E; Mortensen, Laust H

2016-05-01

Does the incidence of spontaneous abortion correlate positively over conception cohorts with the incidence of non-clinically indicated induced abortion as predicted by shared risk aversion? We find that the number of spontaneous and non-clinically indicated induced abortions correlates in conception cohorts, suggesting that risk aversion affects both the conscious and non-conscious mechanisms that control parturition. Much literature speculates that natural selection conserved risk aversion because the trait enhanced Darwinian fitness. Risk aversion, moreover, supposedly influences all decisions including those that individuals can and cannot report making. We argue that these circumstances, if real, would manifest in conscious and non-conscious decisions to invest in prospective offspring, and therefore affect incidence of induced and spontaneous abortion over time. Using data from Denmark, we test the hypothesis that monthly conception cohorts yielding unexpectedly many non-clinically indicated induced abortions also yield unexpectedly many spontaneous abortions. The 180 month test period (January 1995 through December 2009), yielded 1 351 800 gestations including 156 780 spontaneous as well as 233 280 induced abortions 9100 of which were clinically indicated. We use Box-Jenkins transfer functions to adjust the incidence of spontaneous and non-clinically indicated induced abortions for autocorrelation (including seasonality), cohort size, and fetal as well as gestational anomalies over the 180-month test period. We use cross-correlation to test our hypothesized association. We find a positive association between spontaneous and non-clinically indicated induced abortions. This suggests, consistent with our theory, that mothers of conception cohorts that yielded more spontaneous abortions than expected opted more frequently than expected for non-clinically indicated induced abortion. Limitations of our work include that even the world's best registration system

Bayesian Inference of Ecological Interactions from Spatial Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher R. Stephens

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The characterization and quantification of ecological interactions and the construction of species’ distributions and their associated ecological niches are of fundamental theoretical and practical importance. In this paper, we discuss a Bayesian inference framework, which, using spatial data, offers a general formalism within which ecological interactions may be characterized and quantified. Interactions are identified through deviations of the spatial distribution of co-occurrences of spatial variables relative to a benchmark for the non-interacting system and based on a statistical ensemble of spatial cells. The formalism allows for the integration of both biotic and abiotic factors of arbitrary resolution. We concentrate on the conceptual and mathematical underpinnings of the formalism, showing how, using the naive Bayes approximation, it can be used to not only compare and contrast the relative contribution from each variable, but also to construct species’ distributions and ecological niches based on an arbitrary variable type. We also show how non-linear interactions between distinct niche variables can be identified and the degree of confounding between variables accounted for.

Group theory of spontaneous symmetry breaking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghaboussi, F.

1987-01-01

The connection between the minimality of the Higgs field potential and the maximal little groups of its representation obtained by spontaneous symmetry breaking is analyzed. It is shown that for several representations the lowest minimum of the potential is related to the maximal little group of those representations. Furthermore, a practical necessity criterion is given for the representation of the Higgs field needed for spontaneous symmetry breaking

Effect of atomic initial phase difference on spontaneous emission of an atom embedded in photonic crystal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bing, Zhang; Xiu-Dong, Sun; Xiang-Qian, Jiang

2010-01-01

We investigate the effect of initial phase difference between the two excited states of a V-type three-level atom on its steady state behaviour of spontaneous emission. A modified density of modes is introduced to calculate the spontaneous emission spectra in photonic crystal. Spectra in free space are also shown to compare with that in photonic crystal with different relative positions of the excited levels from upper band-edge frequency. It is found that the initial phase difference plays an important role in the quantum interference property between the two decay channels. For a zero initial phase, destructive property is presented in the spectra. With the increase of initial phase difference, quantum interference between the two decay channels from upper levels to ground level turns to be constructive. Furthermore, we give an interpretation for the property of these spectra. (atomic and molecular physics)

Spontaneous polyploidization in cucumber.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramírez-Madera, Axel O; Miller, Nathan D; Spalding, Edgar P; Weng, Yiqun; Havey, Michael J

2017-07-01

This is the first quantitative estimation of spontaneous polyploidy in cucumber and we detected 2.2% polyploids in a greenhouse study. We provide evidence that polyploidization is consistent with endoreduplication and is an on-going process during plant growth. Cucumber occasionally produces polyploid plants, which are problematic for growers because these plants produce misshaped fruits with non-viable seeds. In this study, we undertook the first quantitative study to estimate the relative frequency of spontaneous polyploids in cucumber. Seeds of recombinant inbred lines were produced in different environments, plants were grown in the field and greenhouse, and flow cytometry was used to establish ploidies. From 1422 greenhouse-grown plants, the overall relative frequency of spontaneous polyploidy was 2.2%. Plants possessed nuclei of different ploidies in the same leaves (mosaic) and on different parts of the same plant (chimeric). Our results provide evidence of endoreduplication and polysomaty in cucumber, and that it is an on-going and dynamic process. There was a significant effect (p = 0.018) of seed production environment on the occurrence of polyploid plants. Seed and seedling traits were not accurate predictors of eventual polyploids, and we recommend that cucumber producers rogue plants based on stature and leaf serration to remove potential polyploids.

Massive Kaluza-Klein theories and their spontaneously broken symmetries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hohm, O.

2006-07-01

In this thesis we investigate the effective actions for massive Kaluza-Klein states, focusing on the massive modes of spin-3/2 and spin-2 fields. To this end we determine the spontaneously broken gauge symmetries associated to these 'higher-spin' states and construct the unbroken phase of the Kaluza-Klein theory. We show that for the particular background AdS 3 x S 3 x S 3 a consistent coupling of the first massive spin-3/2 multiplet requires an enhancement of local supersymmetry, which in turn will be partially broken in the Kaluza-Klein vacuum. The corresponding action is constructed as a gauged maximal supergravity in D=3. Subsequently, the symmetries underlying an infinite tower of massive spin-2 states are analyzed in case of a Kaluza-Klein compactification of four-dimensional gravity to D=3. It is shown that the resulting gravity-spin-2 theory is given by a Chern-Simons action of an affine algebra and also allows a geometrical interpretation in terms of 'algebra-valued' differential geometry. The global symmetry group is determined, which contains an affine extension of the Ehlers group. We show that the broken phase can in turn be constructed via gauging a certain subgroup of the global symmetry group. Finally, deformations of the Kaluza-Klein theory on AdS 3 x S 3 x S 3 and the corresponding symmetry breakings are analyzed as possible applications for the AdS/CFT correspondence. (Orig.)

Spontaneous Achilles tendon rupture in alkaptonuria | Mohammed ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Spontaneous Achilles tendon ruptures are uncommon. We present a 46-year-old man with spontaneous Achilles tendon rupture due to ochronosis. To our knowledge, this has not been previously reported in Sudan literature. The tendon of the reported patient healed well after debridement and primary repairs.

Spontaneous magnetization in high-density quark matter

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tsue, Yasuhiko; da Providência, João; Providência, Constanca

2015-01-01

It is shown that spontaneous magnetization occurs due to the anomalous magnetic moments of quarks in high-density quark matter under the tensor-type four-point interaction. The spin polarized condensate for each flavor of quark appears at high baryon density, which leads to the spontaneous magnet...

Children's Spontaneous Vocalisations during Play: Aesthetic Dimensions

Science.gov (United States)

Countryman, June; Gabriel, Martha; Thompson, Katherine

2016-01-01

This paper explores the phenomenon of spontaneous vocalisations in the self-chosen, unstructured outdoor play of children aged 3-12. Spontaneous vocalisations encompass the whole range of children's unprompted, natural, expressive vocal soundings beyond spoken language. Non-participant observations at childcare centres and on elementary school…

Spontaneous baryogenesis from asymmetric inflaton

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takahashi, Fuminobu

2015-10-01

We propose a variant scenario of spontaneous baryogenesis from asymmetric inflaton based on current-current interactions between the inflaton and matter fields with a non-zero B-L charge. When the inflaton starts to oscillate around the minimum after inflation, it may lead to excitation of a CP-odd component, which induces an effective chemical potential for the B-L number through the current-current interactions. We study concrete inflation models and show that the spontaneous baryogenesis scenario can be naturally implemented in the chaotic inflation in supergravity.

Radiologic findings of acute spontaneous subdural hematomas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Hyun Jung; Bae, Won Kyong; Gyu, Cha Jang; Kim, Gun Woo; Cho, Won Su; Kim, Il Young; Lee, Kyung Suk [Soonchunhyang University, Chonan (Korea, Republic of). Chonan Hospital

1998-03-01

To evaluate the characteristic CT and cerebral angiographic findings in patients with acute spontaneous subdural hematomas and correlate these imaging findings with causes of bleeding and clinical outcome. Twenty-one patients with nontraumatic acute spontaneous subdural hematoma presenting during the last five years underwent CT scanning and cerebral angiography was performed in twelve. To determine the cause of bleedings, CT and angiographic findings were retrospectively analysed. Clinical history, laboratory and operative findings, and final clinical outcome were reviewed. Acute spontaneous subdural hematoma is a rare condition, and the mortality rate is high. In patients with acute spontaneous subdural hematoma, as seen on CT, associated subarachnoid or intracerebral hemorrhage is strongly indicative of intracerebral vascular abnormalities such as aneurysm and arteriovenous malformation, and cerebral angiography is necessary. To ensure proper treatment and thus markedly reduce mortality, the causes of bleedings should be prompty determined by means of cerebral angiography. (author). 20 refs., 1 tab., 4 figs.

Spatially resolvable optical emission spectrometer for analyzing density uniformity of semiconductor process plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oh, Changhoon; Ryoo, Hoonchul; Lee, Hyungwoo; Hahn, Jae W.; Kim, Se-Yeon; Yi, Hun-Jung

2010-01-01

We proposed a spatially resolved optical emission spectrometer (SROES) for analyzing the uniformity of plasma density for semiconductor processes. To enhance the spatial resolution of the SROES, we constructed a SROES system using a series of lenses, apertures, and pinholes. We calculated the spatial resolution of the SROES for the variation of pinhole size, and our calculated results were in good agreement with the measured spatial variation of the constructed SROES. The performance of the SROES was also verified by detecting the correlation between the distribution of a fluorine radical in inductively coupled plasma etch process and the etch rate of a SiO 2 film on a silicon wafer.

Spontaneous harm reduction: a barrier for substance-dependent individuals seeking treatment?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fontanella Bruno José Barcellos

2005-01-01

Full Text Available OBJETIVE: Greater information regarding motivations and treatment barriers faced by substance-dependent individuals has clinical and public health implications. This study aimed to formulate hypotheses regarding psychological, social and family variables that can be constructed as motivations or subjective barriers for the early seeking of formal treatment. METHODS: A qualitative study was conducted in an intentional sample (selected through saturation and variety of types of 13 substance-dependent individuals who sought treatment. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted using open questions, and the transcribed data were subjected to qualitative analysis. RESULTS: Four types of spontaneous harm reduction measures were identified, according to the subjective logic of each participant: having some periods at rest (not using and recovering from adverse effects; caretaking by close acquaintances (relatives, partners, drug dealers and alcoholic beverage sellers; selectivity regarding substance source, type and means of administration; establishing "healthy" limits of ingestion. CONCLUSIONS: The measures identified might represent barriers to the early seeking of treatment but might also represent spontaneous learning of abilities beneficial to future treatment. Health care professionals should take into consideration their existence and should address them in clinical settings. Issues representative of the formulated categories should be presented in structured questionnaires used in future quantitative studies of barriers to treatment in this population.

Spontaneous harm reduction: a barrier for substance-dependent individuals seeking treatment?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bruno José Barcellos Fontanella

2005-12-01

Full Text Available OBJETIVE: Greater information regarding motivations and treatment barriers faced by substance-dependent individuals has clinical and public health implications. This study aimed to formulate hypotheses regarding psychological, social and family variables that can be constructed as motivations or subjective barriers for the early seeking of formal treatment. METHODS: A qualitative study was conducted in an intentional sample (selected through saturation and variety of types of 13 substance-dependent individuals who sought treatment. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted using open questions, and the transcribed data were subjected to qualitative analysis. RESULTS: Four types of spontaneous harm reduction measures were identified, according to the subjective logic of each participant: having some periods at rest (not using and recovering from adverse effects; caretaking by close acquaintances (relatives, partners, drug dealers and alcoholic beverage sellers; selectivity regarding substance source, type and means of administration; establishing "healthy" limits of ingestion. CONCLUSIONS: The measures identified might represent barriers to the early seeking of treatment but might also represent spontaneous learning of abilities beneficial to future treatment. Health care professionals should take into consideration their existence and should address them in clinical settings. Issues representative of the formulated categories should be presented in structured questionnaires used in future quantitative studies of barriers to treatment in this population.

Visual-spatial cognition in children using aided communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Stadskleiv, Kristine; Batorowicz, Beata; Massaro, Munique; van Balkom, Hans; von Tetzchner, Stephen

2018-03-01

Children with severe motor impairments are restricted in their manipulation and exploration of objects, but little is known about how such limitations influence cognitive development. This study investigated visual-constructional abilities in 75 children and adolescents, aged 5;0-15;11 (years;months), with severe speech impairments and no intellectual disabilities (aided group) and in 56 children and adolescents with typical development (reference group). Verbal comprehension, non-verbal reasoning, and visual-spatial perception were assessed with standardized tests. The task of the participants was to verbally instruct communication partners to make physical constructions identical to models that the partner could not see. In the aided group, 55.7% of the constructions were identical to the models participants described, compared to 91.3% in the reference group. In the aided group, test results explained 51.4% of the variance in construction errors. The results indicate that the participants' language skills were decisive for construction success. Visual-perceptual challenges were common among the aided communicators, and their instructions included little information about size and spatial relations. This may reflect less experience with object manipulation and construction than children with typical development, and using aided communication to instruct others to make three-dimensional constructions. The results imply a need for interventions that compensate for the lack of relevant experience.

Spontaneous onset of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Rooij, A.M.; Perez, R.S.G.M.; Huygen, F.J.; van Eijs, F.; van Kleef, M.; Bauer, M.C.R.; van Hilten, J.J.; Marinus, J.

2010-01-01

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) usually develops after a noxious event, but spontaneous onsets have been described in 3-11% of the cases. The existence of spontaneous-onset CRPS is highly debated and the aim of the present study was therefore to compare the phenotypic characteristics of CRPS

Socioeconomic position and the risk of spontaneous abortion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Norsker, Filippa Nyboe; Espenhain, Laura; rogvi, Sofie

2012-01-01

To investigate the relationship between different indicators of socioeconomic position and the risk of spontaneous abortion.......To investigate the relationship between different indicators of socioeconomic position and the risk of spontaneous abortion....

Spontaneous indices are inconsistent with arterial baroreflex gain.

Science.gov (United States)

Lipman, Ruth D; Salisbury, Julie K; Taylor, J Andrew

2003-10-01

Spontaneously occurring, parallel fluctuations in arterial pressure and heart period are frequently used as indices of baroreflex function. Despite the convenience of spontaneous indices, their relation to the arterial baroreflex remains unclear. Therefore, in 97 volunteers, we derived 5 proposed indices (sequence method, alpha-index, transfer function, low-frequency transfer function, and impulse response function), compared them with arterial baroreflex gain (by the modified Oxford pharmacologic technique), and examined their relation to carotid distensibility and respiratory sinus arrhythmia. The subjects comprised men and women (n=41) aged 25 to 86 years, 30% of whom had established coronary artery disease. Generally, the indices were correlated with each other (except alpha-index and low-frequency transfer function) and with baroreflex gain. However, the Bland-Altman method demonstrated that the spontaneous indices had limits of agreement as large as the baroreflex gain itself. Even in individuals within the lowest tertile of baroreflex gain for whom baroreflex gain appears to be the most clinically relevant, spontaneous indices failed to relate to baroreflex gain. In fact, for these individuals, there was no correlation between any index and baroreflex gain. Forward stepwise linear regression showed that all spontaneous indices and baroreflex gain were related to respiratory sinus arrhythmia, but only baroreflex gain was related to carotid distensibility. Therefore, these data suggest that spontaneous indices are inadequate estimates of gain and are inconsistent with arterial baroreflex function.

Construction and performance of large flash chambers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taylor, F.E.; Bogert, D.; Fisk, R.; Stutte, L.; Walker, J.K.; Wolfson, J.; Abolins, M.; Ernwein, J.; Owen, D.; Lyons, T.

1979-01-01

The construction and performance of 12' x 12' flash chambers used in a 340 ton neutrino detector under construction at Fermilab is described. The flash chambers supply digital information with a spatial resolution of 0.2'', and are used to finely sample the shower development of the reaction products of neutrino interactions. The flash chambers are easy and inexpensive to build and are electronically read out

Distinct spontaneous shrinkage of a sporadic vestibular schwannoma

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Huang, Xiaowen; Cayé-Thomasen, Per; Stangerup, Sven-Eric

2013-01-01

on "shrinkage" or "negative growth" or "regression" or "involution" of the tumor were selected, and the contents on the rate, extent and mechanism of spontaneous tumor shrinkage were extracted and reviewed. The reported rate of spontaneous shrinkage of vestibular schwannoma is 5-10% of patients managed......We present a case with outspoken spontaneous vestibular schwannoma shrinkage and review the related literature. The patient was initially diagnosed with a left-sided, intrameatal vestibular schwannoma, which subsequently grew into the cerebello-pontine angle (CPA), followed by total shrinkage...... of the CPA component without any intervention over a 12-year observation period. The literature on spontaneous tumor shrinkage was retrieved by searching the subject terms "vestibular schwannoma, conservative management" in PubMed/MEDLINE database, without a time limit. Of the published data, the articles...

Qualitative Spatial Reasoning for Visual Grouping in Sketches

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Forbus, Kenneth D; Tomai, Emmett; Usher, Jeffrey

2003-01-01

We believe that qualitative spatial reasoning provides a bridge between perception and cognition, by using visual computations to construct structural descriptions that have functional significance...

Spontaneous breathing during lung-protective ventilation in an experimental acute lung injury model: high transpulmonary pressure associated with strong spontaneous breathing effort may worsen lung injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoshida, Takeshi; Uchiyama, Akinori; Matsuura, Nariaki; Mashimo, Takashi; Fujino, Yuji

2012-05-01

We investigated whether potentially injurious transpulmonary pressure could be generated by strong spontaneous breathing and exacerbate lung injury even when plateau pressure is limited to ventilation, each combined with weak or strong spontaneous breathing effort. Inspiratory pressure for low tidal volume ventilation was set at 10 cm H2O and tidal volume at 6 mL/kg. For moderate tidal volume ventilation, the values were 20 cm H2O and 7-9 mL/kg. The groups were: low tidal volume ventilation+spontaneous breathingweak, low tidal volume ventilation+spontaneous breathingstrong, moderate tidal volume ventilation+spontaneous breathingweak, and moderate tidal volume ventilation+spontaneous breathingstrong. Each group had the same settings for positive end-expiratory pressure of 8 cm H2O. Respiratory variables were measured every 60 mins. Distribution of lung aeration and alveolar collapse were histologically evaluated. Low tidal volume ventilation+spontaneous breathingstrong showed the most favorable oxygenation and compliance of respiratory system, and the best lung aeration. By contrast, in moderate tidal volume ventilation+spontaneous breathingstrong, the greatest atelectasis with numerous neutrophils was observed. While we applied settings to maintain plateau pressure at ventilation+spontaneous breathingstrong, transpulmonary pressure rose >33 cm H2O. Both minute ventilation and respiratory rate were higher in the strong spontaneous breathing groups. Even when plateau pressure is limited to mechanical ventilation, transpulmonary pressure and tidal volume should be strictly controlled to prevent further lung injury.

Super-high magnetic fields in spatially inhomogeneous plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nastoyashchiy, Anatoly F.

2012-01-01

The new phenomenon of a spontaneous magnetic field in spatially inhomogeneous plasma is found. The criteria for instability are determined, and both the linear and nonlinear stages of the magnetic field growth are considered; it is shown that the magnetic field can reach a considerable magnitude, namely, its pressure can be comparable with the plasma pressure. Especially large magnetic fields can arise in hot plasma with a high electron density, for example, in laser-heated plasma. In steady-state plasma, the magnetic field can be self-sustaining. The considered magnetic fields may play an important role in thermal insulation of the plasma. (author)

Spatial dimensions of the demand for homeownership

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Jens Fyhn Lykke

2010-01-01

This paper introduces the concept of "spatial location satisfaction" and examines its relation to the individual demand for homeownership. Based on a Danish questionnaire survey carried out in a rural study area (N=1000) and in an urban study area (N=1015), a tenure choice model was estimated...... relating spatial location satisfaction to homeownership, while adjusting for control variables. The spatial location satisfaction variable was constructed from two questionnaire items asking respondents to state their actual and preferred place of settlement given five location type options: large city......, medium-sized city, small town, village, and "in the countryside". As hypothesised, the study shows a strong association between spatial location satisfaction and the individual demand for homeownership. This association is robust across study areas. Spatial location satisfaction is highest in the rural...

Cigarette, alcohol, and caffeine consumption: risk factors for spontaneous abortion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasch, Vibeke

2003-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To study the association between cigarette, alcohol, and caffeine consumption and the occurrence of spontaneous abortion. METHODS: The study population consisted of 330 women with spontaneous abortion and 1168 pregnant women receiving antenatal care. A case-control design was utilized;...... units alcohol per week and 375 mg or more caffeine per day during pregnancy may increase the risk of spontaneous abortion.......OBJECTIVE: To study the association between cigarette, alcohol, and caffeine consumption and the occurrence of spontaneous abortion. METHODS: The study population consisted of 330 women with spontaneous abortion and 1168 pregnant women receiving antenatal care. A case-control design was utilized......; cases were defined as women with a spontaneous abortion in gestational week 6-16 and controls as women with a live fetus in gestational week 6-16. The variables studied comprise age, parity, occupational situation, cigarette, alcohol, and caffeine consumption. The association between cigarette, alcohol...

Spontaneous fluctuations in a zero-noise model of flocking

Science.gov (United States)

Chakraborty, Abhijit; Bhattacharya, Kunal

2016-11-01

Investigations into the complex structure and dynamics of collectively moving groups of living organisms have provided valuable insights. Understanding the emergent features, especially, the origin of fluctuations, appears to be challenging in the current scheme of models. It has been argued that flocks are poised at criticality. We present a two-dimensional self-propelled particle model where neighbourhoods and forces are defined through topology-based rules. The attractive forces are modeled in order to maintain cohesion in the flock in open-boundary conditions. We find that fluctuations occur spontaneously in the absence of any external noise. For certain values of the parameters the flock shows a high degree of order as well as scale-free decay of spatial correlations in velocity and speed. We characterize the dynamical behaviour of the system using the Lyapunov spectrum. Largest exponents being positive but small in magnitude suggest that the apparent high susceptibility may result from the system operating near the borderline of order and chaos.

Intracellular Catalytic Domain of Symbiosis Receptor Kinase Hyperactivates Spontaneous Nodulation in Absence of Rhizobia1[W

Science.gov (United States)

Saha, Sudip; Dutta, Ayan; Bhattacharya, Avisek; DasGupta, Maitrayee

2014-01-01

Symbiosis Receptor Kinase (SYMRK), a member of the Nod factor signaling pathway, is indispensible for both nodule organogenesis and intracellular colonization of symbionts in rhizobia-legume symbiosis. Here, we show that the intracellular kinase domain of a SYMRK (SYMRK-kd) but not its inactive or full-length version leads to hyperactivation of the nodule organogenic program in Medicago truncatula TR25 (symrk knockout mutant) in the absence of rhizobia. Spontaneous nodulation in TR25/SYMRK-kd was 6-fold higher than rhizobia-induced nodulation in TR25/SYMRK roots. The merged clusters of spontaneous nodules indicated that TR25 roots in the presence of SYMRK-kd have overcome the control over both nodule numbers and their spatial position. In the presence of rhizobia, SYMRK-kd could rescue the epidermal infection processes in TR25, but colonization of symbionts in the nodule interior was significantly compromised. In summary, ligand-independent deregulated activation of SYMRK hyperactivates nodule organogenesis in the absence of rhizobia, but its ectodomain is required for proper symbiont colonization. PMID:25304318

Testing of spatial ability: construction and evaluation of a new instrument

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Květon, Petr; Jelínek, Martin; Vobořil, Dalibor

2014-01-01

Roč. 56, č. 3 (2014), s. 233-252 ISSN 0039-3320 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GAP407/11/2397 Institutional support: RVO:68081740 Keywords : spatial ability * testing * psychometrics Subject RIV: AN - Psychology Impact factor: 0.442, year: 2014

Symmetry-protected zero-mode laser with a tunable spatial profile

Science.gov (United States)

Ge, Li

Majorana zero modes in condense matter systems have attracted considerable interest in topological quantum computation. In contrast, while robust zero modes have been observed in various photonic lattices, it remains an open question whether they can be used for the same purpose. To advance significantly the state-of-the-art in zero-mode photonics, new inspirations are needed for a better design and control of photonic systems. Using the zero modes protected by non-Hermitian particle-hole symmetry in a photonic lattice and the spatial degrees of freedom they offer, we propose a single-mode, fixed-frequency, and spatially tunable zero-mode laser. The system does not need to have zero modes before a localized pump is applied; they are created by the spontaneous restoration of particle-hole symmetry. By modifying this process using different pump configurations, we present a versatile way to tune the spatial profile of our zero-mode laser, with its lasing frequency pinned at the zero energy. Such a zero-mode laser may find applications in telecommunication, where spatial encoding is held by some to be last frontier of signal processing. This project is supported by the NSF under Grant No. DMR-1506987.

Spontaneous Hedonic Reactions to Social Media Cues.

Science.gov (United States)

van Koningsbruggen, Guido M; Hartmann, Tilo; Eden, Allison; Veling, Harm

2017-05-01

Why is it so difficult to resist the desire to use social media? One possibility is that frequent social media users possess strong and spontaneous hedonic reactions to social media cues, which, in turn, makes it difficult to resist social media temptations. In two studies (total N = 200), we investigated less-frequent and frequent social media users' spontaneous hedonic reactions to social media cues using the Affect Misattribution Procedure-an implicit measure of affective reactions. Results demonstrated that frequent social media users showed more favorable affective reactions in response to social media (vs. control) cues, whereas less-frequent social media users' affective reactions did not differ between social media and control cues (Studies 1 and 2). Moreover, the spontaneous hedonic reactions to social media (vs. control) cues were related to self-reported cravings to use social media and partially accounted for the link between social media use and social media cravings (Study 2). These findings suggest that frequent social media users' spontaneous hedonic reactions in response to social media cues might contribute to their difficulties in resisting desires to use social media.

Spontaneous polarization of a nonstoichiometric ferroelectric NaNO2 at low temperatures

Science.gov (United States)

Matyjasik, S.; Shaldin, Yu.

2017-10-01

We report measurements of the temperature dependence of the pyroelectric charge in a nonstoichiometric z-cut sample of sodium nitrite in the temperature range 4.2-300 K. The obtained data are supplemented by the measurements of thermally stimulated depolarization (TSD) in electric fields of different magnitudes and polarities. All the experimental results serve as the basis for constructing the temperature dependence of the spontaneous polarization ΔPs(T,U) and the pyroelectric coefficient γ(U,T) for fixed external stimuli. It is found that the value of ΔPs in the sample of sodium nitrite is negligible at low temperatures, up to 40 K. This indicates (for known experimental values of the linear expansion coefficients) a minor contribution of the sample piezoelectricity to the spontaneous polarization in this temperature range. Starting from T = 75 K, an exponential increase in the contribution to the total charge of the TSD is found only in the defect subsystem of the crystal. Based on the data of physical studies, a crystal-physics model is proposed, which differs from the model presented by Lines and Glass. Due to the splitting of ion positions in all three sublattices upon the transition to the paraelectric phase, NaNO2 crystals can be assigned to the three-dimensional type of ferroelectrics, according to the classification by Abrahams and Keve. This agrees with the estimate of the spontaneous polarization Ps ˜ 0.01 C/m2 given in the paper. This value is significantly different from the data obtained by repolarization of nonstoichiometric samples in strong electric fields up to the phase transition temperature.

Spontaneous globe luxation associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M Ashok Kumar

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Spontaneous globe luxation is a rarely reported condition which can lead to complications like optic neuropathy. Common causes are thyroid eye disease, shallow orbit and floppy eyelid syndrome. We report a case of spontaneous globe luxation with the onset and severity associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD. To our knowledge, this is the first case of spontaneous globe luxation associated with COPD.

Violation of Bell's inequality with continuous spatial variables

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abouraddy, Ayman F.; Yarnall, Timothy; Saleh, Bahaa E. A.; Teich, Malvin C.

2007-01-01

The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) argument revealed the paradoxical properties of a two-particle system entangled continuously in the spatial parameter. Yet a direct test of quantum nonlocality exhibited by this state, via a violation of Bell's inequality, has not been forthcoming. In this paper, we identify and construct experimental arrangements comprising simple optical components, without nonlinearities or moving parts, that implement operators in the spatial-parity space of single-photon fields that correspond to the familiar Pauli spin operators. We achieve this by first establishing an isomorphism between the single-mode multiphoton electromagnetic-field space spanned by a Fock-state basis and the single-photon multimode electromagnetic-field space spanned by a spatial-eigenmode basis. We then proceed to construct a Hilbert space with a two-dimensional basis of spatial even-odd parity modes. In particular, we describe an arrangement that implements a rotation in the parity space of each photon of an entangled-photon pair, allowing for a straightforward experimental test of Bell's inequality using the EPR state. Finally, the violation of a Bell inequality is quantified in terms of the physical parameters of the two-photon source

Evaluation of device-independent internet spatial location

OpenAIRE

Komosný, Dan; Pang, Paul; Mehic, Miralem; Vozňák, Miroslav

2017-01-01

Device-independent Internet spatial location is needed for many purposes, such as data personalisation and social behaviour analysis. Internet spatial databases provide such locations based the IP address of a device. The free to use databases are natively included into many UNIX and Linux operating systems. These systems are predominantly used for e-shops, social networks, and cloud data storage. Using a constructed ground truth dataset, we comprehensively evaluate these databases for null r...

Sparse Jacobian construction for mapped grid visco-resistive magnetohydrodynamics

KAUST Repository

Reynolds, Daniel R.

2012-01-01

We apply the automatic differentiation tool OpenAD toward constructing a preconditioner for fully implicit simulations of mapped grid visco-resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), used in modeling tokamak fusion devices. Our simulation framework employs a fully implicit formulation in time, and a mapped finite volume spatial discretization. We solve this model using inexact Newton-Krylov methods. Of critical importance in these iterative solvers is the development of an effective preconditioner, which typically requires knowledge of the Jacobian of the nonlinear residual function. However, due to significant nonlinearity within our PDE system, our mapped spatial discretization, and stencil adaptivity at physical boundaries, analytical derivation of these Jacobian entries is highly nontrivial. This paper therefore focuses on Jacobian construction using automatic differentiation. In particular, we discuss applying OpenAD to the case of a spatially-adaptive stencil patch that automatically handles differences between the domain interior and boundary, and configuring AD for reduced stencil approximations to the Jacobian. We investigate both scalar and vector tangent mode differentiation, along with simple finite difference approaches, to compare the resulting accuracy and efficiency of Jacobian construction in this application. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.

Surgical management of spontaneous hypertensive brainstem hemorrhage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bal Krishna Shrestha

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Spontaneous hypertensive brainstem hemorrhage is the spontaneous brainstem hemorrhage associated with long term hypertension but not having definite focal or objective lesion. It is a catastrophic event which has a poor prognosis and usually managed conservatively. It is not uncommon, especially in eastern Asian populations, accounting approximately for 10% of the intracerebral hemorrhage. Before the advent of computed tomography, the diagnosis of brainstem hemorrhage was usually based on the clinical picture or by autopsy and believed to be untreatable via surgery. The introduction of computed tomography permitted to categorize the subtypes of brainstem hemorrhage with more predicted outcome. Continuous ongoing developments in the stereotactic surgery and microsurgery have added more specific surgical management in these patients. However, whether to manage conservatively or promptly with surgical evacuation of hematoma is still a controversy. Studies have shown that an accurate prognostic assessment based on clinical and radiological features on admission is critical for establishing a reasonable therapeutic approach. Some authors have advocate conservative management, whereas others have suggested the efficacy of surgical treatment in brainstem hemorrhage. With the widening knowledge in microsurgical techniques as well as neuroimaging technology, there seems to have more optimistic hope of surgical management of spontaneous hypertensive brainstem hemorrhage for better prognosis. Here we present five cases of severe spontaneous hypertensive brainstem hemorrhage patients who had undergone surgery; and explore the possibilities of surgical management in patients with the spontaneous hypertensive brainstem hemorrhage.

Active hippocampal networks undergo spontaneous synaptic modification.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Masako Tsukamoto-Yasui

Full Text Available The brain is self-writable; as the brain voluntarily adapts itself to a changing environment, the neural circuitry rearranges its functional connectivity by referring to its own activity. How the internal activity modifies synaptic weights is largely unknown, however. Here we report that spontaneous activity causes complex reorganization of synaptic connectivity without any external (or artificial stimuli. Under physiologically relevant ionic conditions, CA3 pyramidal cells in hippocampal slices displayed spontaneous spikes with bistable slow oscillations of membrane potential, alternating between the so-called UP and DOWN states. The generation of slow oscillations did not require fast synaptic transmission, but their patterns were coordinated by local circuit activity. In the course of generating spontaneous activity, individual neurons acquired bidirectional long-lasting synaptic modification. The spontaneous synaptic plasticity depended on a rise in intracellular calcium concentrations of postsynaptic cells, but not on NMDA receptor activity. The direction and amount of the plasticity varied depending on slow oscillation patterns and synapse locations, and thus, they were diverse in a network. Once this global synaptic refinement occurred, the same neurons now displayed different patterns of spontaneous activity, which in turn exhibited different levels of synaptic plasticity. Thus, active networks continuously update their internal states through ongoing synaptic plasticity. With computational simulations, we suggest that with this slow oscillation-induced plasticity, a recurrent network converges on a more specific state, compared to that with spike timing-dependent plasticity alone.

Shared risk aversion in spontaneous and induced abortion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Catalano, Ralph; Bruckner, Tim A.; Karasek, Deborah

2016-01-01

spontaneous and non-clinically indicated induced abortions. This suggests, consistent with our theory, that mothers of conception cohorts that yielded more spontaneous abortions than expected opted more frequently than expected for non-clinically indicated induced abortion. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION...

Spontaneous passage of long, sharp gastrointestinal foreign body in a child.

Science.gov (United States)

Karthikeyan, Vilvapathy Senguttuvan; Ansari, Mohammed Gaffoor; Suresh, Ramasamy; Easwaran, Bettaiyagowder

2015-01-19

Foreign body (FB) ingestion is a common problem in children. Up to 90% of these FBs pass spontaneously. FBs reaching the stomach usually pass out spontaneously. Exceptions to this spontaneous passage include a long FB that cannot cross the pylorus, duodenum or ileocaecal junction. We present a case of a 9-year boy who accidentally ingested a long paper pin, which spontaneously passed in 26 h. This case is being reported to highlight the successful spontaneous passage of a 4 cm long sharp foreign body in a child. 2015 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.

Spatial memory extinction: a c-Fos protein mapping study.

Science.gov (United States)

Méndez-Couz, M; Conejo, N M; Vallejo, G; Arias, J L

2014-03-01

While the neuronal basis of spatial memory consolidation has been thoroughly studied, the substrates mediating the process of extinction remain largely unknown. This study aimed to evaluate the functional contribution of selected brain regions during the extinction of a previously acquired spatial memory task in the Morris water maze. For that purpose, we used adult male Wistar rats trained in a spatial reference memory task. Learning-related changes in c-Fos inmunoreactive cells after training were evaluated in cortical and subcortical regions. Results show that removal of the hidden platform in the water maze induced extinction of the previously reinforced escape behavior after 16 trials, without spontaneous recovery 24h later. Extinction was related with significantly higher numbers of c-Fos positive nuclei in amygdala nuclei and prefrontal cortex. On the other hand, the lateral mammillary bodies showed higher number of c-Fos positive cells than the control group. Therefore, in contrast with the results obtained in studies of classical conditioning, we show the involvement of diencephalic structures mediating this kind of learning. In summary, our findings suggest that medial prefrontal cortex, the amygdala complex and diencephalic structures like the lateral mammillary nuclei are relevant for the extinction of spatial memory. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Design and implementation of distributed spatial computing node based on WPS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Liping; Li, Guoqing; Xie, Jibo

2014-01-01

Currently, the research work of SIG (Spatial Information Grid) technology mostly emphasizes on the spatial data sharing in grid environment, while the importance of spatial computing resources is ignored. In order to implement the sharing and cooperation of spatial computing resources in grid environment, this paper does a systematical research of the key technologies to construct Spatial Computing Node based on the WPS (Web Processing Service) specification by OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium). And a framework of Spatial Computing Node is designed according to the features of spatial computing resources. Finally, a prototype of Spatial Computing Node is implemented and the relevant verification work under the environment is completed

a Novel Approach of Indexing and Retrieving Spatial Polygons for Efficient Spatial Region Queries

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, J. H.; Wang, X. Z.; Wang, F. Y.; Shen, Z. H.; Zhou, Y. C.; Wang, Y. L.

2017-10-01

Spatial region queries are more and more widely used in web-based applications. Mechanisms to provide efficient query processing over geospatial data are essential. However, due to the massive geospatial data volume, heavy geometric computation, and high access concurrency, it is difficult to get response in real time. Spatial indexes are usually used in this situation. In this paper, based on k-d tree, we introduce a distributed KD-Tree (DKD-Tree) suitbable for polygon data, and a two-step query algorithm. The spatial index construction is recursive and iterative, and the query is an in memory process. Both the index and query methods can be processed in parallel, and are implemented based on HDFS, Spark and Redis. Experiments on a large volume of Remote Sensing images metadata have been carried out, and the advantages of our method are investigated by comparing with spatial region queries executed on PostgreSQL and PostGIS. Results show that our approach not only greatly improves the efficiency of spatial region query, but also has good scalability, Moreover, the two-step spatial range query algorithm can also save cluster resources to support a large number of concurrent queries. Therefore, this method is very useful when building large geographic information systems.

A NOVEL APPROACH OF INDEXING AND RETRIEVING SPATIAL POLYGONS FOR EFFICIENT SPATIAL REGION QUERIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. H. Zhao

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Spatial region queries are more and more widely used in web-based applications. Mechanisms to provide efficient query processing over geospatial data are essential. However, due to the massive geospatial data volume, heavy geometric computation, and high access concurrency, it is difficult to get response in real time. Spatial indexes are usually used in this situation. In this paper, based on k-d tree, we introduce a distributed KD-Tree (DKD-Tree suitbable for polygon data, and a two-step query algorithm. The spatial index construction is recursive and iterative, and the query is an in memory process. Both the index and query methods can be processed in parallel, and are implemented based on HDFS, Spark and Redis. Experiments on a large volume of Remote Sensing images metadata have been carried out, and the advantages of our method are investigated by comparing with spatial region queries executed on PostgreSQL and PostGIS. Results show that our approach not only greatly improves the efficiency of spatial region query, but also has good scalability, Moreover, the two-step spatial range query algorithm can also save cluster resources to support a large number of concurrent queries. Therefore, this method is very useful when building large geographic information systems.

Detection of target phonemes in spontaneous and read speech

OpenAIRE

Mehta, G.; Cutler, A.

1988-01-01

Although spontaneous speech occurs more frequently in most listeners’ experience than read speech, laboratory studies of human speech recognition typically use carefully controlled materials read from a script. The phonological and prosodic characteristics of spontaneous and read speech differ considerably, however, which suggests that laboratory results may not generalize to the recognition of spontaneous and read speech materials, and their response time to detect word-initial target phonem...

Spontaneous Splenic Rupture in Melanoma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hadi Mirfazaelian

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Spontaneous rupture of spleen due to malignant melanoma is a rare situation, with only a few case reports in the literature. This study reports a previously healthy, 30-year-old man who came with chief complaint of acute abdominal pain to emergency room. On physical examination, abdominal tenderness and guarding were detected to be coincident with hypotension. Ultrasonography revealed mild splenomegaly with moderate free fluid in abdominopelvic cavity. Considering acute abdominal pain and hemodynamic instability, he underwent splenectomy with splenic rupture as the source of bleeding. Histologic examination showed diffuse infiltration by tumor. Immunohistochemical study (positive for S100, HMB45, and vimentin and negative for CK, CD10, CK20, CK7, CD30, LCA, EMA, and chromogranin confirmed metastatic malignant melanoma. On further questioning, there was a past history of a nasal dark skin lesion which was removed two years ago with no pathologic examination. Spontaneous (nontraumatic rupture of spleen is an uncommon situation and it happens very rarely due to neoplastic metastasis. Metastasis of malignant melanoma is one of the rare causes of the spontaneous rupture of spleen.

SPONTANEOUS INITIATION OF DETONATIONS IN WHITE DWARF ENVIRONMENTS: DETERMINATION OF CRITICAL SIZES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seitenzahl, Ivo R.; Meakin, Casey A.; Townsley, Dean M.; Truran, James W.; Lamb, Don Q.

2009-01-01

Some explosion models for Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), such as the gravitationally confined detonation (GCD) or the double detonation sub-Chandrasekhar (DDSC) models, rely on the spontaneous initiation of a detonation in the degenerate 12 C/ 16 O material of a white dwarf (WD). The length scales pertinent to the initiation of the detonation are notoriously unresolved in multidimensional stellar simulations, prompting the use of results of one-dimensional simulations at higher resolution, such as those performed for this work, as guidelines for deciding whether or not conditions reached in the higher dimensional full star simulations successfully would lead to the onset of a detonation. Spontaneous initiation relies on the existence of a suitable gradient in self-ignition (induction) times of the fuel, which we set up with a spatially localized nonuniformity of temperature-a hot spot. We determine the critical (smallest) sizes of such hot spots that still marginally result in a detonation in WD matter by integrating the reactive Euler equations with the hydrodynamics code FLASH. We quantify the dependences of the critical sizes of such hot spots on composition, background temperature, peak temperature, geometry, and functional form of the temperature disturbance, many of which were hitherto largely unexplored in the literature. We discuss the implications of our results in the context of modeling of SNe Ia.

Massive Kaluza-Klein theories and their spontaneously broken symmetries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hohm, O.

2006-07-15

In this thesis we investigate the effective actions for massive Kaluza-Klein states, focusing on the massive modes of spin-3/2 and spin-2 fields. To this end we determine the spontaneously broken gauge symmetries associated to these 'higher-spin' states and construct the unbroken phase of the Kaluza-Klein theory. We show that for the particular background AdS{sub 3} x S{sup 3} x S{sup 3} a consistent coupling of the first massive spin-3/2 multiplet requires an enhancement of local supersymmetry, which in turn will be partially broken in the Kaluza-Klein vacuum. The corresponding action is constructed as a gauged maximal supergravity in D=3. Subsequently, the symmetries underlying an infinite tower of massive spin-2 states are analyzed in case of a Kaluza-Klein compactification of four-dimensional gravity to D=3. It is shown that the resulting gravity-spin-2 theory is given by a Chern-Simons action of an affine algebra and also allows a geometrical interpretation in terms of 'algebra-valued' differential geometry. The global symmetry group is determined, which contains an affine extension of the Ehlers group. We show that the broken phase can in turn be constructed via gauging a certain subgroup of the global symmetry group. Finally, deformations of the Kaluza-Klein theory on AdS{sub 3} x S{sup 3} x S{sup 3} and the corresponding symmetry breakings are analyzed as possible applications for the AdS/CFT correspondence. (Orig.)

Cueing spatial attention through timing and probability.

Science.gov (United States)

Girardi, Giovanna; Antonucci, Gabriella; Nico, Daniele

2013-01-01

Even when focused on an effortful task we retain the ability to detect salient environmental information, and even irrelevant visual stimuli can be automatically detected. However, to which extent unattended information affects attentional control is not fully understood. Here we provide evidences of how the brain spontaneously organizes its cognitive resources by shifting attention between a selective-attending and a stimulus-driven modality within a single task. Using a spatial cueing paradigm we investigated the effect of cue-target asynchronies as a function of their probabilities of occurrence (i.e., relative frequency). Results show that this accessory information modulates attentional shifts. A valid spatial cue improved participants' performance as compared to an invalid one only in trials in which target onset was highly predictable because of its more robust occurrence. Conversely, cuing proved ineffective when spatial cue and target were associated according to a less frequent asynchrony. These patterns of response depended on asynchronies' probability and not on their duration. Our findings clearly demonstrate that through a fine decision-making, performed trial-by-trial, the brain utilizes implicit information to decide whether or not voluntarily shifting spatial attention. As if according to a cost-planning strategy, the cognitive effort of shifting attention depending on the cue is performed only when the expected advantages are higher. In a trade-off competition for cognitive resources, voluntary/automatic attending may thus be a more complex process than expected. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Q-feber som årsag til spontan abort

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Stine Yde; Mølbak, Kåre; Hjøllund, Niels Henrik

2011-01-01

Q-fever is a zoonotic infection. Pregnant women constitute a specific risk group as the infection may cause spontaneous abortion, intrauterine death, growth retardation, oligohydramnios and premature birth. A 39 year-old veterinarian had a spontaneous abortion in pregnancy week seven. During the ...

Spontaneously broken global symmetries and cosmology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shafi, Q.; Vilenkin, A.

1984-01-01

Phase transitions associated with spontaneously broken global symmetries, in case these occur in nature, can have important cosmological implications. This is illustrated through two examples. The first one shows how the spontaneous breaking of a global U(1) symmetry, present, for instance, in the minimal SU(5) model, can lead to an inflationary phase. The second example illustrates how topologically stable strings associated with the breaking of U(1) symmetry make an appearance at (or near) the end of the inflationary era

Flow Friction or Spontaneous Ignition?

Science.gov (United States)

Stoltzfus, Joel M.; Gallus, Timothy D.; Sparks, Kyle

2012-01-01

"Flow friction," a proposed ignition mechanism in oxygen systems, has proved elusive in attempts at experimental verification. In this paper, the literature regarding flow friction is reviewed and the experimental verification attempts are briefly discussed. Another ignition mechanism, a form of spontaneous combustion, is proposed as an explanation for at least some of the fire events that have been attributed to flow friction in the literature. In addition, the results of a failure analysis performed at NASA Johnson Space Center White Sands Test Facility are presented, and the observations indicate that spontaneous combustion was the most likely cause of the fire in this 2000 psig (14 MPa) oxygen-enriched system.

Spontaneously broken abelian gauge invariant supersymmetric model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mainland, G.B.; Tanaka, K.

A model is presented that is invariant under an Abelian gauge transformation and a modified supersymmetry transformation. This model is broken spontaneously, and the interplay between symmetry breaking, Goldstone particles, and mass breaking is studied. In the present model, spontaneously breaking the Abelian symmetry of the vacuum restores the invariance of the vacuum under a modified supersymmetry transformation. (U.S.)

Spontaneous Perforation of Pyometra: A Case Report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Pyometra is the accumulation of purulent material in the uterine cavity. Its reported incidence is 0.01–0.5% in gynecologic patients; however, as far as elderly patients are concerned, its incidence is 13.6% [3]. The most common cause of pyometra is malignant diseases of genital tract and the consequences of their treatment (radiotherapy. Other causes are benign tumors like leiomyoma, endometrial polyps, senile cervicitis, cervical occlusion after surgery, puerperal infections, and congenital cervical anomalies. Spontaneous rupture of the uterus is an extremely rare complication of pyometra. To our knowledge, only 21 cases of spontaneous perforation of pyometra have been reported in English literature since 1980. This paper reports an additional case of spontaneous uterine rupture.

Effects of voluntary and treadmill exercise on spontaneous withdrawal signs, cognitive deficits and alterations in apoptosis-associated proteins in morphine-dependent rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Mokhtari-Zaer, Amin; Ghodrati-Jaldbakhan, Shahrbanoo; Vafaei, Abbas Ali; Miladi-Gorji, Hossein; Akhavan, Maziar M; Bandegi, Ahmad Reza; Rashidy-Pour, Ali

2014-09-01

Chronic exposure to morphine results in cognitive deficits and alterations of apoptotic proteins in favor of cell death in the hippocampus, a brain region critically involved in learning and memory. Physical activity has been shown to have beneficial effects on brain health. In the current work, we examined the effects of voluntary and treadmill exercise on spontaneous withdrawal signs, the associated cognitive defects, and changes of apoptotic proteins in morphine-dependent rats. Morphine dependence was induced through bi-daily administrations of morphine (10mg/kg) for 10 days. Then, the rats were trained under two different exercise protocols: mild treadmill exercise or voluntary wheel exercise for 10 days. After exercise training, their spatial learning and memory and aversive memory were examined by a water maze and by an inhibitory avoidance task, respectively. The expression of the pro-apoptotic protein Bax and the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 in the hippocampus were determined by immunoblotting. We found that chronic exposure to morphine impaired spatial and aversive memory and remarkably suppressed the expression of Bcl-2, but Bax expression remained constant. Both voluntary and treadmill exercise alleviated memory impairment, increased the expression of Bcl-2 protein, and only the later suppressed the expression of Bax protein in morphine-dependent animals. Moreover, both exercise protocols diminished the occurrence of spontaneous morphine withdrawal signs. Our findings showed that exercise reduces the spontaneous morphine-withdrawal signs, blocks the associated impairment of cognitive performance, and overcomes morphine-induced alterations in apoptotic proteins in favor of cell death. Thus, exercise may be a useful therapeutic strategy for cognitive and behavioral deficits in addict individuals. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Enhanced amplified spontaneous emission using layer-by-layer assembled cowpea mosaic virus

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Na; Deng, Zhaoqi; Lin, Yuan; Zhang, Xiaojie; Geng, Yanhou; Ma, Dongge; Su, Zhaohui

2009-01-01

Layer-by-layer assembly technique was used to construct ultrathin film of cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV) by electrostatic interactions, and the film was employed as a precursor on which an OF8T2 film was deposited by spin coating. Amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) was observed and improved for the OF8T2 film. Compared with OF8T2 film on quartz, the introduction of CPMV nanoparticles reduced the threshold and loss, and remarkably increased the net gain. The threshold, loss, and gain reached 0.05 mJ/pulse, 6.9 cm-1, and 82 cm-1, respectively. CPMV nanoparticles may enormously scatter light, resulting in a positive feedback, thus the ASE is easily obtained and improved.

Spontaneous regression of metastases from malignant melanoma: a case report

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kalialis, Louise V; Drzewiecki, Krzysztof T; Mohammadi, Mahin

2008-01-01

A case of a 61-year-old male with widespread metastatic melanoma is presented 5 years after complete spontaneous cure. Spontaneous regression occurred in cutaneous, pulmonary, hepatic and cerebral metastases. A review of the literature reveals seven cases of regression of cerebral metastases......; this report is the first to document complete spontaneous regression of cerebral metastases from malignant melanoma by means of computed tomography scans. Spontaneous regression is defined as the partial or complete disappearance of a malignant tumour in the absence of all treatment or in the presence...

Research on presentation and query service of geo-spatial data based on ontology

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Hong-wei; Li, Qin-chao; Cai, Chang

2008-10-01

The paper analyzed the deficiency on presentation and query of geo-spatial data existed in current GIS, discussed the advantages that ontology possessed in formalization of geo-spatial data and the presentation of semantic granularity, taken land-use classification system as an example to construct domain ontology, and described it by OWL; realized the grade level and category presentation of land-use data benefited from the thoughts of vertical and horizontal navigation; and then discussed query mode of geo-spatial data based on ontology, including data query based on types and grade levels, instances and spatial relation, and synthetic query based on types and instances; these methods enriched query mode of current GIS, and is a useful attempt; point out that the key point of the presentation and query of spatial data based on ontology is to construct domain ontology that can correctly reflect geo-concept and its spatial relation and realize its fine formalization description.

Planar Spontaneous Raman-Scattering Spectroscopy for Reacting Jet-Flow Diagnostics Using Lyot-Ehman Tunable Filter

Science.gov (United States)

Sharaborin, D. K.; Markovich, D. M.; Dulin, V. M.

2018-01-01

The spatial-density distribution in burning a premixed methane-air swirling turbulent jet has been studied by measuring the intensity of the Stokes branch of spontaneous Raman scattering for vibrational-rotational transitions in nitrogen. An optical system comprising a Nd:YAG laser and the liquid-crystalline Lyot-Ehman tunable filter has been created and tested by measuring the temperature and density fields in a cone-shaped laminar flame. It has been established that the difference of data obtained using the Stokes component of Raman scattering in nitrogen and its ratio to the anti-Stokes component does not exceed 5% in a temperature range from 300 to 1800 K.

Novel folliculin (FLCN) mutation and familial spontaneous pneumothorax.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, J-F; Shen, X-Q; Zhu, F; Tian, L

2017-01-01

Familial spontaneous pneumothorax is one of the characteristics of Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome (BHDS), which is an autosomal dominant disease caused by the mutation of folliculin (FLCN). To investigate the mutation of FLCN gene in a familial spontaneous pneumothorax. Prospective case study. Clinical and genetic data of a Chinese family with four patients who presented spontaneous pneumothorax in the absence of skin lesions or renal tumors were collected. CT scan of patient's lung was applied for observation of pneumothorax. DNA sequencing of the coding exons (4-14 exons) of FLCN was performed for all 11 members of the family and 100 unrelated healthy controls. CT scan of patient's lung showed spontaneous pneumothorax. A mutation (c. 510C > G) that leads to a premature stop codon (p. Y170X) was found in the proband using DNA sequencing of coding exons (4-14 exons) of FLCN. This mutation was also observed in the other affected members of the family. A nonsense mutation of FLCN was found in a spontaneous pneumothorax family. Our results expand the mutational spectrum of FLCN in patients with BHDS. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Physicians. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Spontaneously broken spacetime symmetries and the role of inessential Goldstones

Science.gov (United States)

Klein, Remko; Roest, Diederik; Stefanyszyn, David

2017-10-01

In contrast to internal symmetries, there is no general proof that the coset construction for spontaneously broken spacetime symmetries leads to universal dynamics. One key difference lies in the role of Goldstone bosons, which for spacetime symmetries includes a subset which are inessential for the non-linear realisation and hence can be eliminated. In this paper we address two important issues that arise when eliminating inessential Goldstones. The first concerns the elimination itself, which is often performed by imposing so-called inverse Higgs constraints. Contrary to claims in the literature, there are a series of conditions on the structure constants which must be satisfied to employ the inverse Higgs phenomenon, and we discuss which parametrisation of the coset element is the most effective in this regard. We also consider generalisations of the standard inverse Higgs constraints, which can include integrating out inessential Goldstones at low energies, and prove that under certain assumptions these give rise to identical effective field theories for the essential Goldstones. Secondly, we consider mappings between non-linear realisations that differ both in the coset element and the algebra basis. While these can always be related to each other by a point transformation, remarkably, the inverse Higgs constraints are not necessarily mapped onto each other under this transformation. We discuss the physical implications of this non-mapping, with a particular emphasis on the coset space corresponding to the spontaneous breaking of the Anti-De Sitter isometries by a Minkowski probe brane.

Spatial transport of atomic coherence in electromagnetically induced absorption with a paraffin-coated Rb vapor cell.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Yoon-Seok; Moon, Han Seb

2014-06-30

We report the spatial transport of spontaneously transferred atomic coherence (STAC) in electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA), which resulted from moving atoms with the STAC of the 5S(1/2) (F = 2)-5P(3/2) (F' = 3) transition of (87)Rb in a paraffin-coated vapor cell. In our experiment, two channels were spatially separate; the writing channel (WC) generated STAC in the EIA configuration, and the reading channel (RC) retrieved the optical field from the spatially transported STAC. Transported between the spatially separated positions, the fast light pulse of EIA in the WC and the delayed light pulse in the RC were observed. When the laser direction of the RC was counter-propagated in the direction of the WC, we observed direction reversal of the transported light pulse in the EIA medium. Furthermore, the delay time, the magnitude, and the width of the spatially transported light pulse were investigated with respect to the distance between the two channels.

Imaging of early spontaneous osteonecrosis and osteoarthritis of the knee

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kusayama, Takeshi; Tomatsu, Taisuke

1999-01-01

In this paper, the available of MRI in diagnosis on early spontaneous osteonecrosis and osteoarthritis was investigated. Subjects were 5 cases (5 knees) with spontaneous osteonecrosis (stage 1 in Koshino's classification) and 96 cases (104 knees) in osteoarthritis who were more than 50 years old. Patients with an early spontaneous osteonecrosis were elderly females and had night pain and severe spontaneous pain. On MRI, lesions of all cases were clearly detected in early stage. On the other hand, only 47 of 104 knees (45%) were detected in patients with osteoarthritis, and mirror lesions at shank sides were detected in 45 of 47 knees. These results suggest that it is possible to diagnose early spontaneous osteonecrosis from osteoarthritis by MRI image with the clue to mirror lesion at shank sides, incidence, stage, etc. On the diagnosis of early spontaneous osteonecrosis, MRI image should be performed as soon as possible if a patient was older, had no anamnesis of lesions, and no changes by the X-ray radiography in spite of severe pain of the knee joints. (K.H.)

Spontaneous infected biloma: case report | Kimani | East African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Biloma is defined as any collection of bile outside the biliary tree. It mainly results from surgical complications and abdominal trauma. Spontaneous biloma is extremely rare and is occasionally associated with choledocholithiasis. This report describes a case of spontaneous biloma diagnosed radiologically and confirmed at ...

Spontaneous resolution of post-traumatic chronic subdural hematoma

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Here, we present a case of spontaneously resolved post-traumatic bilateral chronic subdural hematoma within a period of one month in a 55-year-old male and we discuss the probable mechanisms of pathophysiology in the spontaneous resolution of chronic subdural hematoma. Keywords: Antiaggregation therapy, chronic ...

4D modeling in high-rise construction

Science.gov (United States)

Balakina, Anastasiya; Simankina, Tatyana; Lukinov, Vitaly

2018-03-01

High-rise construction is a complex construction process, requiring the use of more perfected and sophisticated tools for design, planning and construction management. The use of BIM-technologies allows minimizing the risks associated with design errors and errors that occur during construction. This article discusses a visual planning method using the 4D model, which allows the project team to create an accurate and complete construction plan, which is much more difficult to achieve with the help of traditional planning methods. The use of the 4D model in the construction of a 70-story building allowed to detect spatial and temporal errors before the start of construction work. In addition to identifying design errors, 4D modeling has allowed to optimize the construction, as follows: to optimize the operation of cranes, the placement of building structures and materials at various stages of construction, to optimize the organization of work performance, as well as to monitor the activities related to the preparation of the construction site for compliance with labor protection and safety requirements, which resulted in saving money and time.

Symmetry restoration in spontaneously broken induced gravity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amati, D.; Russo, J.

1990-01-01

We investigate the recuperation of expected invariant behaviours in a non-metric gravity theory in which the full general relativistic invariance is broken spontaneously. We show how dangerous increasing energy behaviours of physical amplitudes cancel in a highly non-trivial way. This evidences the expected loss of the vacuum generated scale in the UV regime and gives support for the consistency of spontaneously broken gravity theories. (orig.)

Thoracoscopic modified pleural tent for spontaneous pneumothorax.

Science.gov (United States)

Kawachi, Riken; Matsuwaki, Rie; Tachibana, Keisei; Karita, Shin; Nakazato, Yoko; Tanaka, Ryota; Nagashima, Yasushi; Takei, Hidefumi; Kondo, Haruhiko

2016-08-01

We developed a modified pleural tent (m-tent) procedure and used it in our hospital in almost 30 consecutive patients with spontaneous pneumothorax. The objective of this study was to clarify the feasibility and effectiveness of a thoracoscopic m-tent for the treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax. From July 2013 to November 2014, 107 patients with spontaneous pneumothorax were treated in our institution. Eighty-nine of these patients were analysed retrospectively. The inclusion criteria for thoracoscopic m-tent for spontaneous pneumothorax were multiple and widespread bullae, postoperative relapse and secondary spontaneous pneumothorax. The surgical procedures were usually performed through three ports. After bullectomy, an m-tent is made to strip the parietal pleura off the chest wall from about the level of the fourth or fifth rib to the apex, and two or three ligations are then applied to fix the pleural tent and lung parenchyma. Patients in whom an m-tent was not indicated underwent bullectomy plus coverage using absorbable materials. Twenty-seven patients underwent bullectomy plus m-tent (m-tent group) and 62 underwent bullectomy plus coverage over a staple line using an absorbable material such as a polyglycolic acid sheet or nitrocellulose sheet (coverage group). No severe postoperative complications were observed in either group. The m-tent and coverage groups showed significant differences in operation time (129 vs 86 min, mean), haemorrhage (12.8 vs 7.2 ml), postoperative hospital stay (3.7 vs 2.9 days) and postoperative painkiller intake (8.6 vs 6.8 days). Recurrence was observed in 1 (3.7%) and 2 patients (3.2%), respectively. The thoracoscopic m-tent procedure requires a longer operation, a longer hospital stay and greater painkiller intake. However, these differences are acceptable, and an m-tent should be considered as an option for pleural reinforcement in spontaneous pneumothorax, especially in patients who are complicated with severe pulmonary

Effect of SOS-induced levels of imuABC on spontaneous and damage-induced mutagenesis in Caulobacter crescentus.

Science.gov (United States)

Alves, Ingrid R; Lima-Noronha, Marco A; Silva, Larissa G; Fernández-Silva, Frank S; Freitas, Aline Luiza D; Marques, Marilis V; Galhardo, Rodrigo S

2017-11-01

imuABC (imuAB dnaE2) genes are responsible for SOS-mutagenesis in Caulobacter crescentus and other bacterial species devoid of umuDC. In this work, we have constructed operator-constitutive mutants of the imuABC operon. We used this genetic tool to investigate the effect of SOS-induced levels of these genes upon both spontaneous and damage-induced mutagenesis. We showed that constitutive expression of imuABC does not increase spontaneous or damage-induced mutagenesis, nor increases cellular resistance to DNA-damaging agents. Nevertheless, the presence of the operator-constitutive mutation rescues mutagenesis in a recA background, indicating that imuABC are the only genes required at SOS-induced levels for translesion synthesis (TLS) in C. crescentus. Furthermore, these data also show that TLS mediated by ImuABC does not require RecA, unlike umuDC-dependent mutagenesis in E. coli. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Bacterial vaginosis and spontaneous preterm birth].

Science.gov (United States)

Brabant, G

2016-12-01

To determine if bacterial vaginosis is a marker for risk of spontaneous preterm delivery and if its detection and treatment can reduce this risk. Consultation of the database Pubmed/Medline, Science Direct, and international guidelines of medical societies. Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a dysbiosis resulting in an imbalance in the vaginal flora through the multiplication of anaerobic bacteria and jointly of a disappearance of well-known protective Lactobacilli. His diagnosis is based on clinical Amsel criteria and/or a Gram stain with establishment of the Nugent score. The prevalence of the BV extraordinarily varies according to ethnic and/or geographical origin (4-58 %), in France, it is close to 7 % in the first trimester of pregnancy (EL2). The link between BV and spontaneous premature delivery is low with an odds ratio between 1.5 and 2 in the most recent studies (EL3). Metronidazole or clindamycin is effective to treat BV (EL3). It is recommended to prescribe one of these antibiotics in the case of symptomatic BV (Professional Consensus). The testing associated with the treatment of BV in the global population showed no benefit in the prevention of the risk of spontaneous preterm delivery (EL2). Concerning low-risk asymptomatic population (defined by the absence of antecedent of premature delivery), it has been failed profit to track and treat the BV in the prevention of the risk of spontaneous preterm delivery (EL1). Concerning the high-risk population (defined by a history of preterm delivery), it has been failed profit to track and treat the VB in the prevention of the risk of spontaneous preterm delivery (EL3). However, in the sub population of patients with a history of preterm delivery occurred in a context of materno-fetal bacterial infection, there may be a benefit to detect and treat early and systematically genital infection, and in particular the BV (Professional Consensus). The screening and treatment of BV during pregnancy in asymptomatic low

Spontaneous Gamma Activity in Schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Hirano, Yoji; Oribe, Naoya; Kanba, Shigenobu; Onitsuka, Toshiaki; Nestor, Paul G; Spencer, Kevin M

2015-08-01

A major goal of translational neuroscience is to identify neural circuit abnormalities in neuropsychiatric disorders that can be studied in animal models to facilitate the development of new treatments. Oscillations in the gamma band (30-100 Hz) of the electroencephalogram have received considerable interest as the basic mechanisms underlying these oscillations are understood, and gamma abnormalities have been found in schizophrenia (SZ). Animal models of SZ based on hypofunction of the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) demonstrate increased spontaneous broadband gamma power, but this phenomenon has not been identified clearly in patients with SZ. To examine spontaneous gamma power and its relationship to evoked gamma oscillations in the auditory cortex of patients with SZ. We performed a cross-sectional study including 24 patients with chronic SZ and 24 matched healthy control participants at the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System from January 1, 2009, through December 31, 2012. Electroencephalograms were obtained during auditory steady-state stimulation at multiple frequencies (20, 30, and 40 Hz) and during a resting state in 18 participants in each group. Electroencephalographic activity in the auditory cortex was estimated using dipole source localization. Auditory steady-state response (ASSR) measures included the phase-locking factor and evoked power. Spontaneous gamma power was measured as induced (non-phase-locked) gamma power in the ASSR data and as total gamma power in the resting-state data. The ASSR phase-locking factor was reduced significantly in patients with SZ compared with controls for the 40-Hz stimulation (mean [SD], 0.075 [0.028] vs 0.113 [0.065]; F1,46 = 6.79 [P = .012]) but not the 20- or the 30-Hz stimulation (0.042 [0.038] vs 0.043 [0.034]; F1,46 = 0.006 [P = .938] and 0.084 [0.040] vs 0.098 [0.050]; F1,46 = 1.605 [P = .212], respectively), repeating previous findings. The mean [SD] broadband-induced (30

Merkel Cell Carcinoma with Spontaneous Regression: A Case Report and Immunohistochemical Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hitoshi Terui

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC is an aggressive neuroendocrine carcinoma that only rarely regresses spontaneously. Since little is known about the immunological mechanisms involved in the spontaneous regression of MCC, we describe a case of MCC with spontaneous regression and employed immunohistochemical staining for cytotoxic and immunosuppressive molecules to investigate possible mechanisms involved in the spontaneous regression of MCC. Interestingly, compared to conventional MCC, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in MCC with spontaneous regression contained higher numbers of CD8+ cells and granulysin-bearing cells and lower numbers of CD206+ cells. Our present study suggests one of the possible reasons for the spontaneous regression of MCC.

Spontaneous poisoning by Prosopis juliflora (Leguminosae) in sheep

Science.gov (United States)

The aim of this paper is to describe the first report of clinical, epidemiological and pathological aspects of spontaneous poisoning by Prosopis juliflora in sheep. Of a total of 500 sheep at risk, two adult male sheep were affected; one died spontaneously and the other animal was examined, euthaniz...

Design and development of the roadbed construction on the soft soils

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yushkov Boris Semenovich

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Now the considerable part of territories is presented by soft soils. Construction of highways under difficult conditions, in places of the soft heaving soil distribution having an excessive moistening, low bearing capability, high compressibility and other unfavorable properties, significantly complicates and raises the price of road construction. Improvement of technology of highway construction serves as a solution of problem. In this article the authors propose the design of a roadbed on the soft clay soil, strengthened by a spatial geoweb. The experimental studies of four designs were conducted: the first one is research of the roadbed — soft clay soil mutual interaction; the second one is research of work of the geotextile material laid in the base of roadbed with the soft clay soil; the third one is research of work of the spatial geoweb laid in the base of roadbed with the soft clay soil; the fourth one is research of joint action of a spatial geoweb and the geotextile material laid in the base of a roadbed with soft clay soil. Based on the results of the carried-out laboratory tests it has been revealed that the design with strengthening by a spatial geoweb and geotextile material has a rational one of the roadbed.

Give spontaneity and self-discovery a chance in ASD: Spontaneous peripheral limb variability as a proxy to evoke centrally driven intentional acts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elizabeth B Torres

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Autism can be conceived as an adaptive biological response to an early unexpected developmental change. Under such conceptualization one could think of emerging biological compensatory mechanisms with unique manifestations in each individual. Within a large group of affected people this would result in a highly heterogeneous spectral disorder where it would be difficult to tap into the hidden potentials of any given individual. A pressing question is how to treat the disorder while harnessing the capabilities and predispositions that the individual has already developed. It would indeed be ideal to use such strengths to accelerate the learning of self-sufficiency and independence, important as the person transitions into adulthood. In this report we introduce a new concept for therapeutic interventions and basic research in autism. We use visuo-spatial and auditory stimuli to help augment the physical reality of the child and sensory-substitute corrupted kinesthetic information quantified in his/her movement patterns to help the person develop volitional control over the hand motions. We develop a co-adaptive child-computer interface that closes the sensory-motor feedback loops by alerting the child of a cause-effect relationship between the statistics of his/her real-time hand movement patterns and those of external media states. By co-adapting the statistics of the media states and those of the child’s real-time hand movements, we found that without any food/token reward the children naturally remained engaged in the task. Even in the absence of practice, the learning gains were retained, transferred and improved 2-4 weeks later. This new concept demonstrates that individuals with autism do have spontaneous sensory-motor adaptive capabilities. When led to their self-discovery, these patterns of spontaneous behavioral variability morph into more predictive and reliable intentional actions. These can unlock and enhance exploratory behavior and

Spontaneous Hypoglycemia After Islet Autotransplantation for Chronic Pancreatitis.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Yu Kuei; Faiman, Charles; Johnston, Philip C; Walsh, R Matthew; Stevens, Tyler; Bottino, Rita; Hatipoglu, Betul A

2016-10-01

Spontaneous hypoglycemia has been reported in patients after total pancreatectomy (TP) and islet autotransplantation (IAT) with maintained insulin independence. Details surrounding these events have not been well described. The objective of the study was to determine the frequency and characteristics of spontaneous hypoglycemia in patients undergoing TP-IAT and/or to ascertain predictive or protective factors of its development. This was an observational cohort study in 40 patients who underwent TP-IAT from August 2008 to May 2014, with a median follow-up of 34 months. The study was conducted at a single institution (Cleveland Clinic). Patients included recipients of TP-IAT. The intervention included small, frequent meals in those patients who developed spontaneous hypoglycemia. Incidence of spontaneous hypoglycemia development, characteristics of the patients developing hypoglycemia, and their response to small, frequent meals were measured. Six of 12 patients, who maintained insulin independence, developed spontaneous hypoglycemia. The episodes could be fasting, postprandial, and/or exercise associated, with the frequency ranging from two to three times daily to once every 1-2 weeks. All patients experienced at least one episode that required external assistance, glucagon administration, and/or emergent medical attention. Patients who developed hypoglycemia had a lower median age and tended to have a lower median islet equivalent/kg body weight but a higher median total islet equivalent, body mass index, and homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance score. All patients who received small, frequent meal intervention had improvement in severity and/or frequency of the hypoglycemic episodes. Spontaneous hypoglycemia is prevalent after TP-IAT. Although the underlying pathophysiology responsible for these hypoglycemia events remains to be elucidated, small, frequent meal intervention is helpful in ameliorating this condition.

Cavity enhanced rephased amplified spontaneous emission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A Williamson, Lewis; J Longdell, Jevon

2014-01-01

Amplified spontaneous emission is usually treated as an incoherent noise process. Recent theoretical and experimental work using rephasing optical pulses has shown that rephased amplified spontaneous emission (RASE) is a potential source of wide bandwidth time-delayed entanglement. Due to poor echo efficiency the plain RASE protocol does not in theory achieve perfect entanglement. Experiments done to date show a very small amount of entanglement at best. Here we show that RASE can, in principle, produce perfect multimode time-delayed two mode squeezing when the active medium is placed inside a Q-switched cavity. (paper)

The influence of spontaneous activity on stimulus processing in primary visual cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Schölvinck, M L; Friston, K J; Rees, G

2012-02-01

Spontaneous activity in the resting human brain has been studied extensively; however, how such activity affects the local processing of a sensory stimulus is relatively unknown. Here, we examined the impact of spontaneous activity in primary visual cortex on neuronal and behavioural responses to a simple visual stimulus, using functional MRI. Stimulus-evoked responses remained essentially unchanged by spontaneous fluctuations, combining with them in a largely linear fashion (i.e., with little evidence for an interaction). However, interactions between spontaneous fluctuations and stimulus-evoked responses were evident behaviourally; high levels of spontaneous activity tended to be associated with increased stimulus detection at perceptual threshold. Our results extend those found in studies of spontaneous fluctuations in motor cortex and higher order visual areas, and suggest a fundamental role for spontaneous activity in stimulus processing. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Piaget's Egocentrism: A Unitary Construct?

Science.gov (United States)

Ruthven, Avis J.; Cunningham, William L.

In order to determine whether egocentrism can be conceptualized as a unitary construct, 100 children (51 four-year-olds, 37 five-year-olds, and 12 six-year-olds) were administered a visual/spatial perspective task, a cognitive/communicative task, and an affective task. All tasks were designed to measure different facets of egocentrism. The 50…

Spontaneous oscillation of tension and sarcomere length in skeletal myofibrils. Microscopic measurement and analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Anazawa, T; Yasuda, K; Ishiwata, S

1992-05-01

We have devised a simple method for measuring tension development of single myofibrils by micromanipulation with a pair of glass micro-needles. The tension was estimated from the deflection of a flexible needle under an inverted phase-contrast microscope equipped with an image processor, so that the tension development is always accompanied by the shortening of the myofibril (auxotonic condition) in the present setup. The advantage of this method is that the measurement of tension (1/30 s for time resolution and about 0.05 micrograms for accuracy of tension measurement; 0.05 microns as a spatial resolution for displacement of the micro-needle) and the observation of sarcomere structure are possible at the same time, and the technique to hold myofibrils, even single myofibrils, is very simple. This method has been applied to study the tension development of glycerinated skeletal myofibrils under the condition where spontaneous oscillation of sarcomeres is induced, i.e., the coexistence of MgATP, MgADP and inorganic phosphate without free Ca2+. Under this condition, we found that the tension of myofibrils spontaneously oscillates accompanied by the oscillation of sarcomere length with a main period of a few seconds; the period was lengthened and shortened with stretch and release of myofibrils. A possible mechanism of the oscillation is discussed.

The D1CT-7 mouse model of Tourette syndrome displays sensorimotor gating deficits in response to spatial confinement.

Science.gov (United States)

Godar, Sean C; Mosher, Laura J; Strathman, Hunter J; Gochi, Andrea M; Jones, Cori M; Fowler, Stephen C; Bortolato, Marco

2016-07-01

The D1CT-7 mouse is one of the best known animal models of Tourette syndrome (TS), featuring spontaneous tic-like behaviours sensitive to standard TS therapies; these characteristics ensure a high face and predictive validity of this model, yet its construct validity remains elusive. To address this issue, we studied the responses of D1CT-7 mice to two critical components of TS pathophysiology: the exacerbation of tic-like behaviours in response to stress and the presence of sensorimotor gating deficits, which are thought to reflect the perceptual alterations causing the tics. D1CT-7 and wild-type (WT) littermates were subjected to a 20 min session of spatial confinement (SC) within an inescapable, 10 cm wide cylindrical enclosure. Changes in plasma corticosterone levels, tic-like behaviours and other spontaneous responses were measured. SC-exposed mice were also tested for the prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle response (a sensorimotor gating index) and other TS-related behaviours, including open-field locomotion, novel object exploration and social interaction and compared with non-confined counterparts. SC produced a marked increase in corticosterone concentrations in both D1CT-7 and WT mice. In D1CT-7, but not WT mice, SC exacerbated tic-like and digging behaviours, and triggered PPI deficits and aggressive responses. Conversely, SC did not modify locomotor activity or novel object exploration in D1CT-7 mice. Both tic-like behaviours and PPI impairments in SC-exposed D1CT-7 mice were inhibited by standard TS therapies and D1 dopamine receptor antagonism. These findings collectively support the translational and construct validity of D1CT-7 mice with respect to TS. This article is part of a themed section on Updating Neuropathology and Neuropharmacology of Monoaminergic Systems. To view the other articles in this section visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.v173.13/issuetoc. © 2015 The British Pharmacological Society.

Research on the spatial analysis method of seismic hazard for island

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jia, Jing; Jiang, Jitong; Zheng, Qiuhong; Gao, Huiying

2017-01-01

Seismic hazard analysis(SHA) is a key component of earthquake disaster prevention field for island engineering, whose result could provide parameters for seismic design microscopically and also is the requisite work for the island conservation planning’s earthquake and comprehensive disaster prevention planning macroscopically, in the exploitation and construction process of both inhabited and uninhabited islands. The existing seismic hazard analysis methods are compared in their application, and their application and limitation for island is analysed. Then a specialized spatial analysis method of seismic hazard for island (SAMSHI) is given to support the further related work of earthquake disaster prevention planning, based on spatial analysis tools in GIS and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model. The basic spatial database of SAMSHI includes faults data, historical earthquake record data, geological data and Bouguer gravity anomalies data, which are the data sources for the 11 indices of the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model, and these indices are calculated by the spatial analysis model constructed in ArcGIS’s Model Builder platform. (paper)

Research on the spatial analysis method of seismic hazard for island

Science.gov (United States)

Jia, Jing; Jiang, Jitong; Zheng, Qiuhong; Gao, Huiying

2017-05-01

Seismic hazard analysis(SHA) is a key component of earthquake disaster prevention field for island engineering, whose result could provide parameters for seismic design microscopically and also is the requisite work for the island conservation planning’s earthquake and comprehensive disaster prevention planning macroscopically, in the exploitation and construction process of both inhabited and uninhabited islands. The existing seismic hazard analysis methods are compared in their application, and their application and limitation for island is analysed. Then a specialized spatial analysis method of seismic hazard for island (SAMSHI) is given to support the further related work of earthquake disaster prevention planning, based on spatial analysis tools in GIS and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model. The basic spatial database of SAMSHI includes faults data, historical earthquake record data, geological data and Bouguer gravity anomalies data, which are the data sources for the 11 indices of the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model, and these indices are calculated by the spatial analysis model constructed in ArcGIS’s Model Builder platform.

Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage: Computed Tomographic Characteristics and Outcome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aimara de la Caridad Vergara Santos

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Background: strokes are the third leading cause of death among adults and 10-15 % of them are due to spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage. Objective: to characterize spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage through computed tomography scan and its outcome. Methods: a case series study was conducted comprising patients diagnosed with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage admitted to the Arnaldo Milián Castro Provincial University Hospital in Villa Clara from January 2009 to January 2010. Tomographic variables of interest were derived from evaluation of spontaneous intracerebral hematomas. Results: fifty-nine cases of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage were studied, 23 were located in lobar regions, 4 had severe midline shift, and 2 showed volume greater than 80 ml. Eight out of eleven with extension into the ventricular system had an unfavorable outcome. Among those with thalamic hemorrhage, patients with diameter larger than 4cm and extension into the ventricular system died. Patients with putaminal hemorrhage larger than 4 cm and posterior fossa hematoma with hydrocephalus had a poor outcome, as well as most individuals (55 with other mass effects. Most lobar hematomas (14 out of 23 had a satisfactory outcome, unlike cerebellar and brainstem hematomas. Conclusions: tomographic variables that had a negative impact on the outcome were: volume greater than 80 ml, severe midline shift, diameter larger than 4 cm, extension into the ventricular system, hydrocephalus, other signs of mass effect and brainstem location.

Evaluation on island ecological vulnerability and its spatial heterogeneity.

Science.gov (United States)

Chi, Yuan; Shi, Honghua; Wang, Yuanyuan; Guo, Zhen; Wang, Enkang

2017-12-15

The evaluation on island ecological vulnerability (IEV) can help reveal the comprehensive characteristics of the island ecosystem and provide reference for controlling human activities on islands. An IEV evaluation model which reflects the land-sea dual features, natural and anthropogenic attributes, and spatial heterogeneity of the island ecosystem was established, and the southern islands of Miaodao Archipelago in North China were taken as the study area. The IEV, its spatial heterogeneity, and its sensitivities to the evaluation elements were analyzed. Results indicated that the IEV was in status of mild vulnerability in the archipelago scale, and population pressure, ecosystem productivity, environmental quality, landscape pattern, and economic development were the sensitive elements. The IEV showed significant spatial heterogeneities both in land and surrounding waters sub-ecosystems. Construction scale control, optimization of development allocation, improvement of exploitation methods, and reasonable ecological construction are important measures to control the IEV. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Vacuum field energy and spontaneous emission in anomalously dispersive cavities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bradshaw, Douglas H.; Di Rosa, Michael D.

2011-01-01

Anomalously dispersive cavities, particularly white-light cavities, may have larger bandwidth to finesse ratios than their normally dispersive counterparts. Partly for this reason, they have been proposed for use in laser interferometer gravitational-wave observatory (LIGO)-like gravity-wave detectors and in ring-laser gyroscopes. In this paper we analyze the quantum noise associated with anomalously dispersive cavity modes. The vacuum field energy associated with a particular cavity mode is proportional to the cavity-averaged group velocity of that mode. For anomalously dispersive cavities with group index values between 1 and 0, this means that the total vacuum field energy associated with a particular cavity mode must exceed (ℎ/2π)ω/2. For white-light cavities in particular, the group index approaches zero and the vacuum field energy of a particular spatial mode may be significantly enhanced. We predict enhanced spontaneous emission rates into anomalously dispersive cavity modes and broadened laser linewidths when the linewidth of intracavity emitters is broader than the cavity linewidth.

Effects of a classroom intervention with spatial play materials on children's object and viewer transformation abilities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vander Heyden, Karin; Huizinga, Mariette; Jolles, Jelle

Children practice their spatial skills when playing with spatial toys, such as construction materials, board games, and puzzles. Sex and SES differences are observed in the engagement in such spatial play activities at home, which relate to individual differences in spatial performance. The current

Spontaneous perseverative turning in rats with radiation-induced hippocampal damage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mickley, G.A.; Ferguson, J.L.; Nemeth, T.J.; Mulvihill, M.A.; Alderks, C.E.

1989-01-01

This study found a new behavioral correlate of lesions specific to the dentate granule cell layer of the hippocampus: spontaneous perseverative turning. Irradiation of a portion of the neonatal rat cerebral hemispheres produced hypoplasia of the granule cell layer of the hippocampal dentate gyrus while sparing the rest of the brain. Radiation-induced damage to the hippocampal formation caused rats placed in bowls to spontaneously turn in long, slow bouts without reversals. Irradiated subjects also exhibited other behaviors characteristic of hippocampal damage (e.g., perseveration in spontaneous exploration of the arms of a T-maze, retarded acquisition of a passive avoidance task, and increased horizontal locomotion). These data extend previously reported behavioral correlates of fascia dentata lesions and suggest the usefulness of a bout analysis of spontaneous bowl turning as a measure of nondiscrete-trial spontaneous alternation and a sensitive additional indicator of radiation-induced hippocampal damage

The effects of age and divided attention on spontaneous recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Benjamin A; Jacoby, Larry L; Thomas, Ruthann C; Balota, David A

2011-05-01

Studies of recognition typically involve tests in which the participant's memory for a stimulus is directly questioned. There are occasions however, in which memory occurs more spontaneously (e.g., an acquaintance seeming familiar out of context). Spontaneous recognition was investigated in a novel paradigm involving study of pictures and words followed by recognition judgments on stimuli with an old or new word superimposed over an old or new picture. Participants were instructed to make their recognition decision on either the picture or word and to ignore the distracting stimulus. Spontaneous recognition was measured as the influence of old vs. new distracters on target recognition. Across two experiments, older adults and younger adults placed under divided-attention showed a greater tendency to spontaneously recognize old distracters as compared to full-attention younger adults. The occurrence of spontaneous recognition is discussed in relation to ability to constrain retrieval to goal-relevant information.

Association between Nutritional Status with Spontaneous Abortion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rahimeh Ahmadi

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Background: Spontaneous abortion is the most common adverse pregnancy outcome. We aimed to investigate a possible link between nutrient deficiencies and the risk of spontaneous abortion. Materials and Methods: This case-control study included the case group (n=331 experiencing a spontaneous abortion before 14 weeks of pregnancy and the control group (n=331 who were healthy pregnant women over 14 weeks of pregnancy. The participants filled out Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ, in which they reported their frequency of consumption for a given serving of each food item during the past three months, on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. The reported frequency for each food item was converted to a daily intake. Then, consumption of nutrients was compared between the two groups. Results: There are significant differences between the two groups regarding consumed servings/day of vegetables, bread and cereal, meat, poultry, fish, eggs, beans, fats, oils and dairy products (P=0.012, P<0.001, P=0.004, P<0.001, P=0.019, respectively. There are significant differences between the two groups in all micronutrient including folic acid, iron, vitamin C, vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and zinc (P<0.001. Conclusion: Poor nutrientions may be correlated with increased risk of spontaneous abortion

Simulating spontaneously generated coherence in a four-level atomic system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Aijun; Gao Jinyue; Wu Jinhui; Wang Lei

2005-01-01

We study the spontaneous emission property of a four-level atomic system driven by two coherent fields. By numerical calculations in the bare state picture, we show that such interesting phenomena as extremely narrow peaks and spontaneous emission quenching can be realized, which are well understood by qualitative explanations in the partially and fully dressed state pictures. Especially, this coherently driven atomic system has two close-lying levels in the partially dressed state picture so that spontaneously generated coherence arises. Using our considered scheme it is feasible to carry out experiments based on spontaneously generated coherence because all rigorous requirements have been avoided in the bare state picture

Renormalizable massive charged vector-boson theory without spontaneous symmetry breakdown

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mac, E.

1977-01-01

A renormalizable and unitary theory of massive charged vector bosons is proposed. This theory has a similarity with the Georgi-Glashow theory, the difference being that in the former the Lagrangian does not contain the potential term in the scalar fields necessary in theories with spontaneous symmetry breaking. The mass M > 0 of the charged vector bosons are introduced in the Lagrangian in such a way that the Lagrangian is still invariant under a ''distorted'' local gauge symmetry. This Lagrangian is studied in the generalized renormalizable gauge (gauge R /sub xi/), by means of the Lagrange multiplier formalism. In this way, the fictitious Lagrangian that restores unitarity to the theory can be constructed. The fictitious Lagrangian constructed using the Lagrange multiplier formalism is compared to the one obtained due to the variation of the gauge condition under the gauge transformations. The renormalizability of this theory is studied and the Ward-Takahaski identities are derived; these identities are checked by explicit calculations. Using the Becchi-Rouet-Stora transformation, one can obtain the equation satisfied by the renormalized Lagrangian; solving this equation the most general form of the renormalized Lagrangian is obtained. Also the classical solutions of this kind of theories are studied. Solutions are found suggesting the presence of dyons

Interprofessional learning, impression management, and spontaneity in the acute healthcare setting.

Science.gov (United States)

Bell, Elaine; McAllister, Sue; Ward, Paul R; Russell, Alison

2016-09-01

Spontaneous learning is integral to definitions of interprofessional learning (IPL) because it has been suggested that spontaneous learning can be deeply connected with the work that people do in collaboration with colleagues via their professional networks. However, its nature and the processes involved are not well understood. Goffman's theory of impression management offers a useful theoretical framework to consider the way in which interaction in the workplace connects to spontaneous learning. This article explores the current literature to investigate the usefulness of this framework to better understand and identify spontaneous learning in the workplace. Aspects such as the connections between spontaneous learning occurring in formal and informal work activities, the spaces in which it occurs, and the influence of professional networking are considered. It is proposed that research directed to developing a better understanding of the nature of spontaneous learning in IPL will assist in connecting this learning to formal IPL curricula, enhancing IPL and patient outcomes.

State Spatiality and Identity Formation in Postwar Taiwan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Douglas Fix

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Bi-yu Chang, Place, Identity and National Imagination in Postwar Taiwan. New York: Routledge, 2015. 260 pp. $145 (cloth. In her new book, Place, Identity and National Imagination in Postwar Taiwan, Chang Bi-yu argues that, despite this avalanche of publications and websites devoted to Taiwan’s (historical geography and cartography, few publications have offered a comprehensive and detailed analysis of Taiwan’s spatiality, in particular the representations and spatial discourse of nation and homeland that have been propagated and controlled by the Kuomintang (hereafter KMT regime since its retreat to Taiwan in late 1949. To fill that gap in the literature (particularly in the English-language scholarship on Taiwan’s spatiality, Chang has examined the annual Taiwan Yearbook, Taiwan-based cartographic production, elementary-school textbooks, and the 1950s design and construction of Chunghsing New Village (site of the relocated provincial government. Her goal has been a better understanding of the symbolism, construction, visualization, and contested meanings of Taiwan’s geography and political landscape. In this monograph, Chang also seeks to examine the ways in which state spaces are operated, contested, and changed, as well as how power relations are concretized, social alliances established, and cultural changes enacted through state spatiality. Although the central focus is state spatiality, this is also a book about Taiwan’s identity politics and the highly contested postwar power relationships on the island...

Spontaneity and Equilibrium III: A History of Misinformation

Science.gov (United States)

Raff, Lionel M.

2014-01-01

Necessary and sufficient criteria for reaction spontaneity in a given direction and for spontaneity of finite transformations in single-reaction, closed systems are developed. The criteria are general in that they hold for reactions conducted under either conditions of constant T and p or constant T and V. These results are illustrated using a…

Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection following Topical Hormone Replacement Therapy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander L. Pan

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is a rare condition, usually presenting as an acute coronary syndrome, and is often seen in states associated with high systemic estrogen levels such as pregnancy or oral contraceptive use. While topical hormonal replacement therapy may result in increased estrogen levels similar to those documented with oral contraceptive use, there are no reported cases of spontaneous coronary dissection with topical hormonal replacement therapy. We describe a 53-year-old female who developed two spontaneous coronary dissections while on topical hormonal replacement therapy. The patient had no other risk factors for coronary dissection. After withdrawal from topical hormonal therapy, our patient has done well and has not had recurrent coronary artery dissections over a one-year follow-up period. The potential contributory role of topical hormonal therapy as a cause of spontaneous coronary dissection should be recognized.

Spontaneous Rotational Inversion in Phycomyces

KAUST Repository

Goriely, Alain

2011-03-01

The filamentary fungus Phycomyces blakesleeanus undergoes a series of remarkable transitions during aerial growth. During what is known as the stagea IV growth phase, the fungus extends while rotating in a counterclockwise manner when viewed from above (stagea IVa) and then, while continuing to grow, spontaneously reverses to a clockwise rotation (stagea IVb). This phase lasts for 24-48Ah and is sometimes followed by yet another reversal (stageAIVc) before the overall growth ends. Here, we propose a continuum mechanical model of this entire process using nonlinear, anisotropic, elasticity and show how helical anisotropy associated with the cell wall structure can induce spontaneous rotation and, under appropriate circumstances, the observed reversal of rotational handedness. © 2011 American Physical Society.

Validation of second trimester miscarriages and spontaneous deliveries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sundtoft, Iben Blaabjerg; Sneider, Kirstine; Christiansen, Ole Bjarne

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To validate the diagnosis of second trimester miscarriages/deliveries (16+0 weeks to 27+6 weeks of gestation) recorded as miscarriages in the Danish National Patient Registry or spontaneous deliveries in the Danish Medical Birth Registry, and asses the validity of risk factors, pregnancy...... information and calculated positive predictive values of the registry diagnoses stratified by type of registry, as well as sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and kappa coefficients of risk factors, pregnancy complications, and cerclage. RESULTS: Miscarriage/spontaneous delivery in the second......-based information on pregnancy complications need to be improved. We recommend that all pregnancies ending spontaneously beyond the first trimester are included in the national birth registry and described by appropriate variables....

The Ecology and Evolution of Constructed Ecosystems as Green Infrastructure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeremy eLundholm

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Green infrastructure consists of ecosystems that provide valuable services to urban areas. Constructed ecosystems, including green roofs, bioretention systems, constructed wetlands and bioreactors are artificial, custom-built components of green infrastructure that are becoming more common in cities. Small size, strong spatial boundaries, ecological novelty and the role of human design characterize all constructed ecosystems, influencing their functions and interactions with other urban ecosystems. Here I outline the relevance of ecology and evolution in understanding the functioning of constructed ecosystems. In turn, a research focus on the distinctive aspects of constructed ecosystems can contribute to fundamental science.

Analysis of spontaneous deletions and gene amplification in the lac region of Escherichia coli

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Albertini, A.M.; Hofer, M.; Calos, M.P.; Tlsty, T.D.; Miller, J.H.

1983-01-01

Spontaneous rearrangements, such as large deletions and duplications, have important implications for the structure of the genome. It is therefore of great interest to analyze these events at the molecular level. We have constructed derivatives of a lacI-Z fusion strain, which allow us to study deletions in a more systematic manner than was previously possible. These derivatives have been used to investigate how frequently larger deletions (> 700 bp) occur between short homologies on both recA and recA - strains and to determine the effect of the lengths of the short homologies and of the distance between homologies on the frequency of deletion formation. 38 references, 11 figures

Detection of target phonemes in spontaneous and read speech

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mehta, G.; Cutler, A.

1988-01-01

Although spontaneous speech occurs more frequently in most listeners' experience than read speech, laboratory studies of human speech recognition typically use carefully controlled materials read from a script. The phonological and prosodic characteristics of spontaneous and read speech differ

Factors Analysis of Spontaneous Abortion after Thawed-vitrified Blastocysts Transfer

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Dong YANG; Zheng-yi SUN; Cheng-yan DENG; Qi YU; Fang-fang HE

2008-01-01

Objective To investigate the factors resulting in spontaneous abortion after transferring frozen-thawing blastocysts. Methods A total of 108 cases transferring vitrified blastocysts were divided into two groups: abortion group (n =20) and ongoing group (n=88). Cytogenetic analysis of apoblemas was performed in 12 cases of the abortion.Results The overall spontaneous abortion rate was 18.50%(20/108) and the early spontaneous rate was 16.67%(18/108). ,4 significant difference in maternal age was observed (abortion group: 33.3±4.0 years, ongoing group: 31.0±3.6 years, P=0.02). No difference in other parameters was found. Cytogenetic analysis of apoblemas was obtained for 12 cases, and 2 specimens were contaminated. Seven of ten patients had abnormal karyotypes. Conclusion The underlying cause of spontaneous abortion after transferring frozen thawing blastocysts appears to be abnormal karyotypes.Advancing maternal age seems to increase the risk of spontaneous abortion.

Factors Associated with Spontaneous Clearance of Hepatitis C Virus in Chinese Population

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fei Kong

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Hepatitis C virus (HCV infections spontaneously clear in approximately 15–45% of infected individuals. Factors which influence spontaneous HCV clearance remain to be identified. The purpose of the present study was to identify variables associated with spontaneous HCV clearance in a referred population of Chinese patients. The prevalence of host, viral, and environmental factors known to influence the outcome of HCV infections was compared in 92 HCV spontaneous clearance subjects and 318 HCV persistent infection subjects. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify those factors associated with spontaneous HCV clearance. In univariate analysis, female gender, a history of icteric hepatitis, serologic evidence of concurrent HBV infection, and rs12979860 CC genotype were positively associated with spontaneous HCV clearance, while alcohol consumption was negatively associated with clearance. In multivariate analysis, female gender, a history of icteric hepatitis, concurrent HBV infection, and rs12979860 CC genotype remained independent variables associated with spontaneous HCV clearance. Spontaneous HCV clearance is more likely to occur in females, subjects with a history of icteric hepatitis, HBV coinfections, and those with the rs12979860 CC genotype.

Bilateral spontaneous rupture of flexor digitorum profundus tendons.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

O'Sullivan, S T

2012-02-03

Spontaneous tendon rupture is an unusual condition usually associated with underlying disease processes such as rheumatoid arthritis, chronic renal failure or bony abnormalities of the hand. We report a case of spontaneous, non-concurrent bilateral rupture of flexor profundus tendons in an otherwise healthy individual. Treatment was successful and consisted of a two-stage reconstruction of the ruptured tendon.

Bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax with pulmonary metastases of synovial sarcoma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matushita, J.P.K.; Azevedo, C.M. de

1989-01-01

The association of bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax with pulmonary tumor is uncommon and with pulmonary metastases is rare. The clinical and radiological features of bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax from a synovial sarcoma in a 14 years old boy are described. (author) [pt

Visually Evoked Spiking Evolves While Spontaneous Ongoing Dynamics Persist

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Huys, Raoul; Jirsa, Viktor K; Darokhan, Ziauddin

2016-01-01

attractor. Its existence guarantees that evoked spiking return to the spontaneous state. However, the spontaneous ongoing spiking state and the visual evoked spiking states are qualitatively different and are separated by a threshold (separatrix). The functional advantage of this organization...

Tooth display and lip position during spontaneous and posed smiling in adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Der Geld, Pieter; Oosterveld, Paul; Berge, Stefaan J; Kuijpers-Jagtman, Anne M

2008-08-01

To analyze differences in tooth display, lip-line height, and smile width between the posed smiling record, traditionally produced for orthodontic diagnosis, and the spontaneous (Duchenne) smile of joy. The faces of 122 male participants were each filmed during spontaneous and posed smiling. Spontaneous smiles were elicited through the participants watching a comical movie. Maxillary and mandibular lip-line heights, tooth display, and smile width were measured using a digital videographic method for smile analysis. Paired sample t-tests were used to compare measurements of posed and spontaneous smiling. Maxillary lip-line heights during spontaneous smiling were significantly higher than during posed smiling. Compared to spontaneous smiling, tooth display in the (pre)molar area during posed smiling decreased by up to 30%, along with a significant reduction of smile width. During posed smiling, also mandibular lip-line heights changed and the teeth were more covered by the lower lip than during spontaneous smiling. Reduced lip-line heights, tooth display, and smile width on a posed smiling record can have implications for the diagnostics of lip-line height, smile arc, buccal corridors, and plane of occlusion. Spontaneous smiling records next to posed smiling records are therefore recommended for diagnostic purposes. Because of the dynamic nature of spontaneous smiling, it is proposed to switch to dynamic video recording of the smile.

4D modeling in high-rise construction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Balakina Anastasiya

2018-01-01

Full Text Available High-rise construction is a complex construction process, requiring the use of more perfected and sophisticated tools for design, planning and construction management. The use of BIM-technologies allows minimizing the risks associated with design errors and errors that occur during construction. This article discusses a visual planning method using the 4D model, which allows the project team to create an accurate and complete construction plan, which is much more difficult to achieve with the help of traditional planning methods. The use of the 4D model in the construction of a 70-story building allowed to detect spatial and temporal errors before the start of construction work. In addition to identifying design errors, 4D modeling has allowed to optimize the construction, as follows: to optimize the operation of cranes, the placement of building structures and materials at various stages of construction, to optimize the organization of work performance, as well as to monitor the activities related to the preparation of the construction site for compliance with labor protection and safety requirements, which resulted in saving money and time.

Users as essential contributors to spatial cyberinfrastructures

Science.gov (United States)

Poore, B.S.

2011-01-01

Current accounts of spatial cyberinfrastructure development tend to overemphasize technologies to the neglect of critical social and cultural issues on which adoption depends. Spatial cyberinfrastructures will have a higher chance of success if users of many types, including nonprofessionals, are made central to the development process. Recent studies in the history of infrastructures reveal key turning points and issues that should be considered in the development of spatial cyberinfrastructure projects. These studies highlight the importance of adopting qualitative research methods to learn how users work with data and digital tools, and how user communities form. The author's empirical research on data sharing networks in the Pacific Northwest salmon crisis at the turn of the 21st century demonstrates that ordinary citizens can contribute critical local knowledge to global databases and should be considered in the design and construction of spatial cyberinfrastructures.

Users as essential contributors to spatial cyberinfrastructures.

Science.gov (United States)

Poore, Barbara S

2011-04-05

Current accounts of spatial cyberinfrastructure development tend to overemphasize technologies to the neglect of critical social and cultural issues on which adoption depends. Spatial cyberinfrastructures will have a higher chance of success if users of many types, including nonprofessionals, are made central to the development process. Recent studies in the history of infrastructures reveal key turning points and issues that should be considered in the development of spatial cyberinfrastructure projects. These studies highlight the importance of adopting qualitative research methods to learn how users work with data and digital tools, and how user communities form. The author's empirical research on data sharing networks in the Pacific Northwest salmon crisis at the turn of the 21st century demonstrates that ordinary citizens can contribute critical local knowledge to global databases and should be considered in the design and construction of spatial cyberinfrastructures.

Hybrid Spatial Data Model for Indoor Space: Combined Topology and Grid

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhiyong Lin

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The construction and application of an indoor spatial data model is an important prerequisite to meet the requirements of diversified indoor spatial location services. The traditional indoor spatial topology model focuses on the construction of topology information. It has high path analysis and query efficiency, but ignores the spatial location information. The grid model retains the plane position information by grid, but increases the data volume and complexity of the model and reduces the efficiency of the model analysis. This paper presents a hybrid model for interior space based on topology and grid. Based on the spatial meshing and spatial division of the interior space, the model retains the position information and topological connectivity information of the interior space by establishing the connection or affiliation between the grid subspace and the topological subspace. The model improves the speed of interior spatial analysis and solves the problem of the topology information and location information updates not being synchronized. In this study, the A* shortest path query efficiency of typical daily indoor activities under the grid model and the hybrid model were compared for the indoor plane of an apartment and a shopping mall. The results obtained show that the hybrid model is 43% higher than the A* algorithm of the grid model as a result of the existence of topology communication information. This paper provides a useful idea for the establishment of a highly efficient and highly available interior spatial data model.

Spontaneous regression of metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Hassan, S J

2010-01-01

Merkel cell carcinoma is a rare aggressive neuroendocrine carcinoma of the skin predominantly affecting elderly Caucasians. It has a high rate of local recurrence and regional lymph node metastases. It is associated with a poor prognosis. Complete spontaneous regression of Merkel cell carcinoma has been reported but is a poorly understood phenomenon. Here we present a case of complete spontaneous regression of metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma demonstrating a markedly different pattern of events from those previously published.

An unusual case of spontaneous esophagopleural fistula

OpenAIRE

Manoranjan Dash; Thitta Mohanty; Jyoti Patnaik; Narayan Mishra; Saswat Subhankar; Priyadarsini Parida

2017-01-01

Esophago-pleural fistula (EPF) is an uncommon condition, despite of an anatomical proximity of these structures. Causes of EPF include pneumonectomy for suppurative or tubercular disease of lung and carcinoma lung, malignancy of esophagus. Benign EPF is rare and may be due to trauma or infection. The most common infectious cause is tuberculosis. Spontaneous development of fistula between esophagus and pleura is rarely described in literature. We, hereby present a spontaneous case of such a ra...

Hematome Extra - Dural Rachidien Spontane

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cl. Gros

1967-01-01

Full Text Available Four personal cases of Spontaneous Spinal Epidurdl Hemerrhage are Reported. And 29 additional cases have been analysed by reviewing the literature. The clinical radiologcal and surgical aspects were discussed.

Spontaneous pneumothorax after upper mantle radiation therapy for Hodgkin disease

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paszat, L.; Basrur, V.; Tadros, A.

1986-01-01

Between 1967 and 1981, 158 of 256 consecutive adult patients received upper mantle (UM) radiation therapy as part of initial treatment of Hodgkin disease at the Hamilton Regional Cancer Centre. Chemotherapy was also part of the initial treatment in 21 of 158 patients who received UM radiation therapy. Spontaneous pneumothorax was observed in six of 158 patients during remission after UM radiation therapy in this series. Three cases were incidental findings on follow-up radiographs, but three other patients were seen initially with symptoms of spontaneous pneumothorax. The entity occurred in three of 21 patients (14%) treated with UM radiation therapy and chemotherapy, and in three of 137 (2%) treated with UM radiation therapy (P < .05). Within the range of UM doses (3,500-4,000 cGy in 4 weeks), higher dose was not associated with higher risk of spontaneous pneumothorax. Although these cases of spontaneous pneumothorax are clustered in an age range classic for this entity, the incidence of spontaneous pneumothorax in this group of patients is higher than the anticipated lifetime incidence of 1:500 for the general population. This risk of spontaneous pneumothorax after UM radiation therapy may be even higher in patients who also receive chemotherapy

Computed tomography in the assessment of idiopathic spontaneous pneumothorax

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Sang Jin; Lee, Doo Yun; Kim, Hyung Jung

1991-01-01

It is well known that idiopathic spontaneous pneumothorax is caused by rupture of the subpleural bleb and presents difficulty in exact detection and localization of the bleb with plain chest X - ray alone. The authors performed chest CT scans for accurate diagnosis of bleb that would act as a guide for optimal management of idiopathic spontaneous pneumothorax patients in order to prevent recurrent pneumothorax. We could detect blebs in 93 % (26/28) of the patients with idiopathic spontaneous pneumothorax, and 68 % (19/ 28) of the patient had bilateral blebs. Sensitivity was 0.63, and false negative was 37% (37/100) of the blebs, and 51% (19/37) of these 37 false negative cases were ruptured blebs. Only 7 % (2/28) of the patients had a single bleb. The authors concluded that CT is a useful method of study for optimal management of idiopathic spontaneous pneumothorax patients

[Spontaneous enhancement of long-term memory retrieval during a few days after training].

Science.gov (United States)

Solntseva, S V; Storozheva, Z I; Nikitin, V P; Sherstnev, V V

2013-03-01

The dynamics of long-term memory retrieval on the 1st and 5th days after rat training in spatial Morris water maze and snail conditioned taste aversion models was studied. It was found that animals trained for several days displayed stable and high level of memory retrieval both on 1st and on 5th days after training. Under conditions of single-session training the rate of memory retrieval in snails and rats on the 5th day was higher than on the 1st day after training. It has been proposed that spontaneous enhancement of habit retrieval during 5-days time interval after training is a result of "lingering" memory consolidation processes, which includes trace reorganization in particular molecular and morphological changes in animal brain neurons.

Atypical development of spontaneous social cognition in autism spectrum disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Senju, Atsushi

2013-02-01

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have profound impairment in the development of social interaction and communication. However, it is also known that some 'high-functioning' individuals with ASD show apparently typical capacity to process social information in a controlled experimental settings, despite their difficulties in daily life. The current paper overviews the spontaneous social cognition, spontaneous processing of social information in the absence of explicit instruction or task demand, in individuals with ASD. Three areas of the researches, false belief attribution, imitation/mimicry, and eye gaze processing, have been reviewed. The literatures suggest that high-functioning individuals with ASD (a) do not spontaneously attribute false belief to others, even though they can easily do so when explicitly instructed, (b) can imitate others' goal-directed actions under explicit instruction and show spontaneous mimicry of others' actions when they attend to the action, but are less likely to show spontaneous mimicry without the task structure to navigate attention to others' action and (c) can process others' gaze direction and shift attention to others' gaze directions, but fail to spontaneously attend to another person's eyes in social and communicative context, and less likely to be prompted to respond in response to perceived eye contact. These results are consistent with the claim that individuals with ASD do not spontaneously attend to socially relevant information, even though they can easily process the same information when their attention is navigated towards it. Copyright © 2012 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Coherent spontaneous radiation from highly bunched electron beams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berryman, K.W.; Crosson, E.R.; Ricci, K.N.

1995-01-01

Coherent spontaneous radiation has now been observed in several FELs, and is a subject of great importance to the design of self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) devices. We report observations of coherent spontaneous radiation in both FIREFLY and the mid-infrared FEL at the Stanford Picosecond FEL Center. Coherent emission has been observed at wavelengths as short as 5 microns, and enhancement over incoherent levels by as much as a factor of 4x10 4 has been observed at longer wavelengths. The latter behavior was observed at 45 microns in FIREFLY with short bunches produced by off-peak acceleration and dispersive compression. We present temporal measurements of the highly bunched electron distributions responsible for the large enhancements, using both transition radiation and energy-phase techniques

Spontaneous ischaemic stroke lesions in a dog brain

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Barbara Blicher; Gredal, Hanne; Nielsen, Martin Wirenfeldt

2017-01-01

Background Dogs develop spontaneous ischaemic stroke with a clinical picture closely resembling human ischaemic stroke patients. Animal stroke models have been developed, but it has proved difficult to translate results obtained from such models into successful therapeutic strategies in human...... stroke patients. In order to face this apparent translational gap within stroke research, dogs with ischaemic stroke constitute an opportunity to study the neuropathology of ischaemic stroke in an animal species. Case presentation A 7 years and 8 months old female neutered Rottweiler dog suffered....../macrophages and astrocytes. Conclusions The neuropathological changes reported in the present study were similar to findings in human patients with ischaemic stroke. The dog with spontaneous ischaemic stroke is of interest as a complementary spontaneous animal model for further neuropathological studies....

ANTISPERM ANTIBODY IS A POSSIBLE CAUSE OF SPONTANEOUS ABORTION

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

XUChong; CHENFu; LIULi; ZHAOFei-Sha

1989-01-01

To clarify the possible correlation between antisperm antibodies (ASA) and spontaneous abortion, 68 women, aged 23-37, experienced 2-9 times of spontaneous abortion were tested for ASA by ELISA. 38 fertile women, aged 24-40, without history of abortion were employed as control.

Spontaneous emission control in a tunable hybrid photonic system

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Frimmer, M.; Koenderink, A.F.

2013-01-01

We experimentally demonstrate control of the rate of spontaneous emission in a tunable hybrid photonic system that consists of two canonical building blocks for spontaneous emission control, an optical antenna and a mirror, each providing a modification of the local density of optical states (LDOS).

Quark potential of spontaneous strings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

German, G.; Kleinert, H.

1989-01-01

The authors present some recent developments in string models with an extrinsic curvature term in action. Particular emphasis is placed upon the static quark potential and on the thermal deconfinement properties of spontaneous strings

Abolishment of Spontaneous Flight Turns in Visually Responsive Drosophila.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferris, Bennett Drew; Green, Jonathan; Maimon, Gaby

2018-01-22

Animals react rapidly to external stimuli, such as an approaching predator, but in other circumstances, they seem to act spontaneously, without any obvious external trigger. How do the neural processes mediating the execution of reflexive and spontaneous actions differ? We studied this question in tethered, flying Drosophila. We found that silencing a large but genetically defined set of non-motor neurons virtually eliminates spontaneous flight turns while preserving the tethered flies' ability to perform two types of visually evoked turns, demonstrating that, at least in flies, these two modes of action are almost completely dissociable. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Coupled field induced conversion between destructive and constructive quantum interference

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jiang, Xiangqian, E-mail: xqjiang@hit.edu.cn; Sun, Xiudong

2016-12-15

We study the control of quantum interference in a four-level atom driven by three coherent fields forming a closed loop. The spontaneous emission spectrum shows two sets of peaks which are dramatically influenced by the fields. Due to destructive quantum interference, a dark line can be observed in the emission spectrum, and the condition of the dark line is given. We found that the conversion between destructive and constructive quantum interference can be achieved through controlling the Rabi frequency of the external fields.

From a distance: implications of spontaneous self-distancing for adaptive self-reflection.

Science.gov (United States)

Ayduk, Ozlem; Kross, Ethan

2010-05-01

Although recent experimental work indicates that self-distancing facilitates adaptive self-reflection, it remains unclear (a) whether spontaneous self-distancing leads to similar adaptive outcomes, (b) how spontaneous self-distancing relates to avoidance, and (c) how this strategy impacts interpersonal behavior. Three studies examined these issues demonstrating that the more participants spontaneously self-distanced while reflecting on negative memories, the less emotional (Studies 1-3) and cardiovascular (Study 2) reactivity they displayed in the short term. Spontaneous self-distancing was also associated with lower emotional reactivity and intrusive ideation over time (Study 1). The negative association between spontaneous self-distancing and emotional reactivity was mediated by how participants construed their experience (i.e., less recounting relative to reconstruing) rather than avoidance (Studies 1-2). In addition, spontaneous self-distancing was associated with more problem-solving behavior and less reciprocation of negativity during conflicts among couples in ongoing relationships (Study 3). Although spontaneous self-distancing was empirically related to trait rumination, it explained unique variance in predicting key outcomes. 2010 APA, all rights reserved

Spontaneous Hall effect in a chiral p-wave superconductor

Science.gov (United States)

Furusaki, Akira; Matsumoto, Masashige; Sigrist, Manfred

2001-08-01

In a chiral superconductor with broken time-reversal symmetry a ``spontaneous Hall effect'' may be observed. We analyze this phenomenon by taking into account the surface properties of a chiral superconductor. We identify two main contributions to the spontaneous Hall effect. One contribution originates from the Bernoulli (or Lorentz) force due to spontaneous currents running along the surfaces of the superconductor. The other contribution has a topological origin and is related to the intrinsic angular momentum of Cooper pairs. The latter can be described in terms of a Chern-Simons-like term in the low-energy field theory of the superconductor and has some similarities with the quantum Hall effect. The spontaneous Hall effect in a chiral superconductor is, however, nonuniversal. Our analysis is based on three approaches to the problem: a self-consistent solution of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation, a generalized Ginzburg-Landau theory, and a hydrodynamic formulation. All three methods consistently lead to the same conclusion that the spontaneous Hall resistance of a two-dimensional superconducting Hall bar is of order h/(ekFλ)2, where kF is the Fermi wave vector and λ is the London penetration depth; the Hall resistance is substantially suppressed from a quantum unit of resistance. Experimental issues in measuring this effect are briefly discussed.

An unusual case of spontaneous esophagopleural fistula.

Science.gov (United States)

Dash, Manoranjan; Mohanty, Thitta; Patnaik, Jyoti; Mishra, Narayan; Subhankar, Saswat; Parida, Priyadarsini

2017-01-01

Esophago-pleural fistula (EPF) is an uncommon condition, despite of an anatomical proximity of these structures. Causes of EPF include pneumonectomy for suppurative or tubercular disease of lung and carcinoma lung, malignancy of esophagus. Benign EPF is rare and may be due to trauma or infection. The most common infectious cause is tuberculosis. Spontaneous development of fistula between esophagus and pleura is rarely described in literature. We, hereby present a spontaneous case of such a rare entity in a middle-aged male.

Spontaneous intracranial epidural hematoma during rivaroxaban treatment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ruschel, Leonardo Gilmone; Rego, Felipe Marques Monteiro do; Milano, Jeronimo Buzetti; Jung, Gustavo Simiano; Silva Junior, Luis Fernando; Ramina, Ricardo, E-mail: leonardoruschel@yahoo.com.br [Instituto de Neurologia de Curitiba (INC), Curitiba, PR (Brazil)

2016-11-15

According to our research, this is the first case described in the literature of spontaneous intracranial epidural hematoma secondary to the use of Xarelto®. Spontaneous intracranial epidural hematomas are rarely described in the literature. They are associated with infectious diseases of the skull, coagulation disorders, vascular malformations of the dura mater and metastasis to the skull. Long-term post-marketing monitoring and independent reports will probably detect the full spectrum of hemorrhagic complications of the use of rivaroxaban. (author)

Estimation of variation in spontaneous childhood thyroid cancer incidence in Ukraine before and after the Chernobyl accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Likhtarev, I.; Kovgan, L.; Tronko, N.; Bogdanova, T.; Ron, E.

2004-01-01

The first pulications on unusually high thyroid cancer incidence rate among children and adolescent of northen Ukraine appeared in 1990, that is, four years after the Chernobyl accident. At about the same time, similar information was reported from Belarus and some time later for the contaminated areas of Russia. Although there is an apparent association between thyroid cancer incidence and dose to the thyroid for persons born in the years 1968-1986, it is difficult to quantify this relationship. To estimate the risk associated with radiation exposure from Chernobyl it is important to have an adequate follow-up period and to know the expected (spontaneous) level of thyroid cancer incidence rate in the populations that are considered. The gradual and geographically non uniform introduction of modern ultrasound techniques to detect thyroid nodules that took place in Ukraine after the year 1990 complicates the understanding of changes in thyroid cancer incidence rates over time and geographical regions (oblasts). The spontaneous thyroid cancer incidence rates in Ukraine for the periods 198-1989 and 1990-2000 by region, age and gender are estimated in this paper. The estimation of the time variation and age-sex dependency of the spontaneous thyroid cancer incidence rates are based on the following available information: (a) thyroid cancer cases diagnosed in variousUkrainian oblasts for the period 1981-2000, (b) thyroid nodularity incidence rates for the period 1990-2001; and (c) spatial distribution of the I-131cumulative ground deposition in April-May 1986. Changes in thyroid cancer incidence rates due to the influence of technical improvement in diagnostic tools and screening of children without symptoms (i.e. trend-screening-factors) are estimated for the period 1990-2000 for different oblasts in Ukraine. Statistically significant differences between expected (spontaneous) and observed thyroid cancer incidence rates are observed for the oblasts where intensive

High-rise construction in the Saint Petersburg agglomeration in 1703-1950s

Science.gov (United States)

Sementsov, Sergey; Akulova, Nadezhda; Kurakina, Severina

2018-03-01

Regularities of high-rise construction (implemented projects and developments) in Saint Petersburg and the Saint Petersburg agglomeration since the foundation of the city in 1703 till the 1950s are considered. Based on these regularities, a single spatially developed system of vertical dominants is formed. High-rise construction in the city and its suburbs started in the 1710s and continues up to the present time. In the considered decades (1703-1950s), high-rise construction mostly performed urban-planning functions (with vertical and symbolic dominants), relying on patterns of the visual perception of man-made landscapes under development. Since the 1710s, the construction of vertical dominants (mainly temples, spires of towers, lighthouses, etc.) of five ranks (depending on the altitude range and in relation to the background development) was conducted in territories of the entire agglomeration. These dominants were arranged in landscapes of the city and suburbs with almost mathematically precise accuracy and according to special regulations. Such dominants obtained particular descriptive and silhouette characteristics in accordance with the conditions of spatial perception. In some periods of city development, attempts were made to create monuments (symbolic dominants) of specific height and include those in the spatial system of high-rise dominants as significant elements of the city silhouette.

Spontaneous and posed facial expression in Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, M C; Smith, M K; Ellgring, H

1996-09-01

Spontaneous and posed emotional facial expressions in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD, n = 12) were compared with those of healthy age-matched controls (n = 12). The intensity and amount of facial expression in PD patients were expected to be reduced for spontaneous but not posed expressions. Emotional stimuli were video clips selected from films, 2-5 min in duration, designed to elicit feelings of happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, or anger. Facial movements were coded using Ekman and Friesen's (1978) Facial Action Coding System (FACS). In addition, participants rated their emotional experience on 9-point Likert scales. The PD group showed significantly less overall facial reactivity than did controls when viewing the films. The predicted Group X Condition (spontaneous vs. posed) interaction effect on smile intensity was found when PD participants with more severe disease were compared with those with milder disease and with controls. In contrast, ratings of emotional experience were similar for both groups. Depression was positively associated with emotion rating but not with measures of facial activity. Spontaneous facial expression appears to be selectively affected in PD, whereas posed expression and emotional experience remain relatively intact.

Behavioral Modulation by Spontaneous Activity of Dopamine Neurons

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Toshiharu Ichinose

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Dopamine modulates a variety of animal behaviors that range from sleep and learning to courtship and aggression. Besides its well-known phasic firing to natural reward, a substantial number of dopamine neurons (DANs are known to exhibit ongoing intrinsic activity in the absence of an external stimulus. While accumulating evidence points at functional implications for these intrinsic “spontaneous activities” of DANs in cognitive processes, a causal link to behavior and its underlying mechanisms has yet to be elucidated. Recent physiological studies in the model organism Drosophila melanogaster have uncovered that DANs in the fly brain are also spontaneously active, and that this activity reflects the behavioral/internal states of the animal. Strikingly, genetic manipulation of basal DAN activity resulted in behavioral alterations in the fly, providing critical evidence that links spontaneous DAN activity to behavioral states. Furthermore, circuit-level analyses have started to reveal cellular and molecular mechanisms that mediate or regulate spontaneous DAN activity. Through reviewing recent findings in different animals with the major focus on flies, we will discuss potential roles of this physiological phenomenon in directing animal behaviors.

Spontaneous Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome in a Term Pregnancy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aytekin Tokmak

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Spontaneous OHSS in a term pregnancy is extremely rare. The aim of this study is to present a case of spontaneous ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS in a term pregnancy. A 29-year-old primigravida woman conceived spontaneously and was observed up until 35 weeks of gestation. During this time the patient had a normal pregnancy with normal ovaries. She applied to the current clinic during the 37th week of gestation with complaints of rapid weight gain, abdominal disturbance, and pain. Ultrasound examination showed large bilateral ovaries with multiple follicles and mild ascites. At 39 weeks of gestation, the ovaries were the same as detected previously, and a caesarean section was performed due to fetal macrosomia. A healthy female foetus weighing 4060 gr was delivered. The enlarged bilateral ovaries containing multiple follicles were drilled with electrocautery. The ovaries returned to a near normal state for two weeks after the birth. There are no reported cases of spontaneous OHSS in late pregnancy in the literature. Ovarian drilling may be useful during caesarean section. [Cukurova Med J 2015; 40(3.000: 623-626

Primer on spontaneous heating and pyrophoricity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1994-12-01

This primer was prepared as an information resource for personnel responsible for operation of DOE nuclear facilities. It has sections on combustion principles, spontaneous heating/ignition of hydrocarbons and organics, pyrophoric gases and liquids, pyrophoric nonmetallic solids, pyrophoric metals (including Pu and U), and accident case studies. Although the information in this primer is not all-encompassing, it should provide the reader with a fundamental knowledge level sufficient to recognize most spontaneous combustion hazards and how to prevent ignition and widespread fires. This primer is provided as an information resource only, and is not intended to replace any fire protection or hazardous material training.

Two cases of spontaneous temporal encephalocele.

Science.gov (United States)

Kamiya, Kouhei; Mori, Harushi; Kunimatsu, Akira; Kawai, Kensuke; Usami, Kenichi; Ohtomo, Kuni

2012-12-01

This is a report of two cases of spontaneous temporal encephalocele: one was anteroinferior and presented with epilepsy; the other was posteroinferior and presented with facial neuritis and labyrinthitis. Spontaneous temporal encephalocele is relatively rare and apparently not familiar to a majority of primary physicians. It may present with a variety of symptoms according to its anatomical location, including cerebrospinal fluid fistulas, recurrent meningitis, chronic otitis media, hearing loss, facial nerve palsy and medically intractable epilepsy. Attention should be paid to this disease entity, as it is easily overlooked in imaging studies and can leave serious neurological deficits. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Spontaneous neutrophil activation in HTLV-1 infected patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaqueline B. Guerreiro

Full Text Available Human T cell lymphotropic Virus type-1 (HTLV-1 induces lymphocyte activation and proliferation, but little is known about the innate immune response due to HTLV-1 infection. We evaluated the percentage of neutrophils that metabolize Nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT to formazan in HTLV-1 infected subjects and the association between neutrophil activation and IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha levels. Blood was collected from 35 HTLV-1 carriers, from 8 patients with HAM/TSP (HTLV-1- associated myelopathy; 22 healthy individuals were evaluated for spontaneous and lipopolysaccharide (LPS-stimulated neutrophil activity (reduction of NBT to formazan. The production of IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha by unstimulated mononuclear cells was determined by ELISA. Spontaneous NBT levels, as well as spontaneous IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha production, were significantly higher (p<0.001 in HTLV-1 infected subjects than in healthy individuals. A trend towards a positive correlation was noted, with increasing percentage of NBT positive neutrophils and levels of IFN-gamma. The high IFN-gamma producing HTLV-1 patient group had significantly greater NBT than healthy controls, 43±24% and 17±4.8% respectively (p< 0.001, while no significant difference was observed between healthy controls and the low IFN-gamma-producing HTLV-1 patient group (30±20%. Spontaneous neutrophil activation is another marker of immune perturbation resulting from HTLV-1 infection. In vivo activation of neutrophils observed in HTLV-1 infected subjects is likely to be the same process that causes spontaneous IFN-gamma production, or it may partially result from direct IFN-gamma stimulation.

Teaching Spontaneous Responses to Young Children With Autism

OpenAIRE

Jones, Emily A; Feeley, Kathleen M; Takacs, Jennifer

2007-01-01

Using a multiple probe design across responses, we demonstrated the effectiveness of intensive intervention in establishing spontaneous verbal responses to 2 3-year-old children with autism with generalization to novel settings involving novel persons. Intervention involved discrete-trial instruction (i.e., repeated instructional opportunities presented in close proximity to high rates of reinforcement), specific prompts, and error correction. Spontaneous responses were defined as specific ve...

Cytogenetic analysis in 61 couples with spontaneous abortions

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

江静; 傅曼芬; 王德芬

2001-01-01

Objective　To examine the relationship between spontaneous abortion and chromosomal abnormalities. Methods　Couples who had one or more consecutive spontaneous abortions and had normal genitals were enrolled for cytogenetic karyotype analysis. Results　In the 61 couples, the detected incidence was 11.5%, with five Robertsonian translocations, one reciprocal translocation, and one pericentric inversion of chromosome 7. Conclusion　Chromosomal abnormalities may play an important role in fetal wastage.

Spontaneous trait inference and spontaneous trait transference are both unaffected by prior evaluations of informants.

Science.gov (United States)

Zengel, Bettina; Ambler, James K; McCarthy, Randy J; Skowronski, John J

2017-01-01

This article reports results from a study in which participants encountered either (a) previously known informants who were positive (e.g. Abraham Lincoln), neutral (e.g., Jay Leno), or negative (e.g., Adolf Hitler), or (b) previously unknown informants. The informants ostensibly described either a trait-implicative positive behavior, a trait-implicative negative behavior, or a neutral behavior. These descriptions were framed as either the behavior of the informant or the behavior of another person. Results yielded evidence of informant-trait linkages for both self-informants and for informants who described another person. These effects were not moderated by informant type, behavior valence, or the congruency or incongruency between the prior knowledge of the informant and the behavior valence. Results are discussed in terms of theories of Spontaneous Trait Inference and Spontaneous Trait Transference.

[Spatiotemporal differentiation of construction land expansion in a typical town of south Jiangsu Province].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Rui; Li, Yue-hui; Hu, Yuan-man; Su, Hai-long; Wang, Jin-nian

2011-03-01

Choosing Xinzhuang Town in south Jiangsu Province as study area, and by using 1980, 1991, 2001, and 2009 high-resolution remote sensing images and GIS spatial analysis technology, an integrated expansion degree index model was established based on the existing indicators of construction land expansion, and the general and spatiotemporal differentiation characteristics of construction land expansion in the Town in three time periods of 1980-2009 were quantitatively analyzed. In 1980-2009, with the acceleration of rural urbanization and industrialization, the area of construction land in the Town increased significantly by 19.24 km2, and especially in 2001-2009, the expanded area, expanded contribution rate, and expansion intensity reached the maximum. The construction land expansion had an obvious spatial differentiation characteristic. In 1980-1991, the newly increased construction land mainly concentrated in town area. After 1991, the focus of construction land gradually spread to the villages with developed industries. Most of the increased construction lands were converted from paddy field and dry land, accounting for 88.1% of the total increased area, while the contribution from other land types was relatively small.

Salience of the Nuclear Threat: Operationalization through Spontaneous Concern.

Science.gov (United States)

Mayton, Daniel M., II

An indirect/nonreactive technique of assessing spontaneous concern should be used to examine the salience of the threat of nuclear war. Direct/reactive techniques may produce inconsistent results and inadvertently enhance a false consensus. The procedures for the administration, scoring, and interpretation of a spontaneous concern measure along…

Spontaneous distal rupture of the plantar fascia.

Science.gov (United States)

Gitto, Salvatore; Draghi, Ferdinando

2018-07-01

Spontaneous ruptures of the plantar fascia are uncommon injuries. They typically occur at its calcaneal insertion and usually represent a complication of plantar fasciitis and local treatment with steroid injections. In contrast, distal ruptures commonly result from traumatic injuries. We describe the case of a spontaneous distal rupture of the plantar fascia in a 48-year-old woman with a low level of physical activity and no history of direct injury to the foot, plantar fasciitis, or steroid injections. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

An unusual case of spontaneous esophagopleural fistula

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manoranjan Dash

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Esophago-pleural fistula (EPF is an uncommon condition, despite of an anatomical proximity of these structures. Causes of EPF include pneumonectomy for suppurative or tubercular disease of lung and carcinoma lung, malignancy of esophagus. Benign EPF is rare and may be due to trauma or infection. The most common infectious cause is tuberculosis. Spontaneous development of fistula between esophagus and pleura is rarely described in literature. We, hereby present a spontaneous case of such a rare entity in a middle-aged male.

Spontaneous regression of retinopathy of prematurity:incidence and predictive factors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rui-Hong Ju

2013-08-01

Full Text Available AIM:To evaluate the incidence of spontaneous regression of changes in the retina and vitreous in active stage of retinopathy of prematurity(ROP and identify the possible relative factors during the regression.METHODS: This was a retrospective, hospital-based study. The study consisted of 39 premature infants with mild ROP showed spontaneous regression (Group A and 17 with severe ROP who had been treated before naturally involuting (Group B from August 2008 through May 2011. Data on gender, single or multiple pregnancy, gestational age, birth weight, weight gain from birth to the sixth week of life, use of oxygen in mechanical ventilation, total duration of oxygen inhalation, surfactant given or not, need for and times of blood transfusion, 1,5,10-min Apgar score, presence of bacterial or fungal or combined infection, hyaline membrane disease (HMD, patent ductus arteriosus (PDA, duration of stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU and duration of ROP were recorded.RESULTS: The incidence of spontaneous regression of ROP with stage 1 was 86.7%, and with stage 2, stage 3 was 57.1%, 5.9%, respectively. With changes in zone Ⅲ regression was detected 100%, in zoneⅡ 46.2% and in zoneⅠ 0%. The mean duration of ROP in spontaneous regression group was 5.65±3.14 weeks, lower than that of the treated ROP group (7.34±4.33 weeks, but this difference was not statistically significant (P=0.201. GA, 1min Apgar score, 5min Apgar score, duration of NICU stay, postnatal age of initial screening and oxygen therapy longer than 10 days were significant predictive factors for the spontaneous regression of ROP (P＜0.05. Retinal hemorrhage was the only independent predictive factor the spontaneous regression of ROP (OR 0.030, 95%CI 0.001-0.775, P=0.035.CONCLUSION:This study showed most stage 1 and 2 ROP and changes in zone Ⅲ can spontaneously regression in the end. Retinal hemorrhage is weakly inversely associated with the spontaneous regression.

Predictors of rapid spontaneous resolution of acute subdural hematoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Fujimoto, Kenji; Otsuka, Tadahiro; Yoshizato, Kimio; Kuratsu, Jun-ichi

2014-03-01

Acute subdural hematoma (ASDH) usually requires emergency surgical decompression, but rare cases exhibit rapid spontaneous resolution. The aim of this retrospective study was to identify factors predictive of spontaneous ASDH resolution. A total of 366 consecutive patients with ASDH treated between January 2006 and September 2012 were identified in our hospital database. Patients with ASDH clot thickness >10mm in the frontoparietotemporal region and showing a midline shift >10mm on the initial computed tomography (CT) scan were divided into two groups according to subsequent spontaneous resolution. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors predictive of rapid spontaneous ASDH resolution. Fifty-six ASDH patients met study criteria and 18 demonstrated rapid spontaneous resolution (32%). Majority of these patients were not operated because of poor prognosis/condition and in accordance to family wishes. Univariate analysis revealed significant differences in use of antiplatelet agents before head injury and in the incidence of a low-density band between the hematoma and inner wall of the skull bone on the initial CT. Use of antiplatelet agents before head injury (OR 19.6, 95% CI 1.5-260.1, p=0.02) and the low-density band on CT images (OR 40.3, 95% CI 3.1-520.2, p=0.005) were identified as independent predictive factors by multivariate analysis. Our analysis suggested that use of antiplatelet agents before head injury and a low-density band between the hematoma and inner skull bone on CT images (indicative of cerebrospinal fluid infusion into the subdural space) increase the probability of rapid spontaneous resolution. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spontaneous tension haemopneumothorax

OpenAIRE

Patterson, Benjamin Oliver; Itam, Sarah; Probst, Fey

2008-01-01

Abstract We present a patient with sudden onset progressive shortness of breath and no history of trauma, who rapidly became haemodynamically compromised with a pneumothorax and pleural effusion seen on chest radiograph. He was treated for spontaneous tension pneumothorax but this was soon revealed to be a tension haemopneumothorax. He underwent urgent thoracotomy after persistent bleeding to explore an apical vascular abnormality seen on CT scanning. To our knowledge this is the first such c...

Spontaneous non-thermal leptogenesis in high-scale inflation models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Endo, M.; Takahashi, F.; Yanagida, T.T.; Tokyo Univ.

2006-11-01

We argue that a non-thermal leptogenesis occurs spontaneously, without direct couplings of the inflation with right-handed neutrinos, in a wide class of high-scale inflation models such as the chaotic and hybrid inflation. It is only a finite vacuum expectation value of the inflaton, of more precisely, a linear term in the Kaehler potential, that is a prerequisite for the spontaneous non-thermal leptogenesis. To exemplify how it works, we show that a chaotic inflation model in supergravity naturally produces a right amount of baryon asymmetry via the spontaneous non-thermal leptogenesis. We also discuss the gravitino production from the inflation. (orig.)

Spontaneous fission of 259Md

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hulet, E.K.; Wild, J.F.; Lougheed, R.W.; Baisden, P.A.; Landrum, J.H.; Dougan, R.J.; Mustafa, M.; Ghiorso, A.; Nitschke, J.M.

1979-01-01

The mass and kinetic energy distributions of fission fragments from the spontaneous fission of th newly discovered nuclide 259 Md were obtained. 259 Md was identified as the E. C. daughter of 259 No, and was found to decay entirely (> 95%) by spontaneous fission with a 95-min half-life. From the kinetic energies measured for 397 pairs of coincident fragments, a mass distribution was derived that is symmetric with sigma = 13 amu. 259 Md, together with 258 Fm and 259 Fm, form a select group of three nuclides whose mass division in spontaneous fission is highly symmetric. Unlike the total-kinetic-energy (TKE) distributions of 258 Fm and 259 Fm, which peak at approx. = to 240 MeV, this distribution for 259 Md is broad and is 50 MeV lower in energy. Analysis of the mass and energy distributions shows that events near mass symmetry also exhibit a broad TKE distribution, with one-third of the symmetric events having TKEs less than 200 MeV. The associated of low TKEs with symmetric mass division in the fission of very heavy actinides is anomalous and inconsistent with theories based upon the emergence of fragment shells near the scission point. Either three-body fragmentation or peculiar fragment shapes are assumed as the cause for the large consumption of Coulomb energy observed for a significant fraction of symmetric fissions in 259 Md. 6 figures

Temporal and transverse coherence of self-amplified spontaneous emission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, K.J.

1997-06-01

The authors review the coherence properties of the self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE). Temporally, SASE is similar to the spontaneous undulator radiation except that the spectral bandwidth is about ten times narrower compared with typical undulator radiation. The situation is quite different in the transverse dimension, where SASE is fully coherent

Spatially distributed multipartite entanglement enables EPR steering of atomic clouds

Science.gov (United States)

Kunkel, Philipp; Prüfer, Maximilian; Strobel, Helmut; Linnemann, Daniel; Frölian, Anika; Gasenzer, Thomas; Gärttner, Martin; Oberthaler, Markus K.

2018-04-01

A key resource for distributed quantum-enhanced protocols is entanglement between spatially separated modes. However, the robust generation and detection of entanglement between spatially separated regions of an ultracold atomic system remain a challenge. We used spin mixing in a tightly confined Bose-Einstein condensate to generate an entangled state of indistinguishable particles in a single spatial mode. We show experimentally that this entanglement can be spatially distributed by self-similar expansion of the atomic cloud. We used spatially resolved spin read-out to reveal a particularly strong form of quantum correlations known as Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering between distinct parts of the expanded cloud. Based on the strength of EPR steering, we constructed a witness, which confirmed genuine 5-partite entanglement.

Surgical management of spontaneous ruptured hepatocellular adenoma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcelo Augusto Fontenelle Ribeiro Junior

2009-01-01

Full Text Available AIMS: Spontaneous ruptured hepatocellular adenoma (SRHA is a rare life-threatening condition that may require surgical treatment to control hemorrhaging and also stabilize the patient. We report a series of emergency surgeries performed at our institution for this condition. METHODS: We reviewed medical records and radiology files of 28 patients (from 1989 to 2006 with a proven diagnosis of hepatocellular adenoma (HA. Three (10.7% of 28 patients had spontaneous ruptured hepatocellular adenoma, two of which were associated with intrahepatic hemorrhage while one had intraperitoneal bleeding. Two patients were female and one was male. Both female patients had a background history of oral contraceptive use. Sudden abdominal pain associated with hemodynamic instability occurred in all patients who suffered from spontaneous ruptured hepatocellular adenoma. The mean age was 41.6 years old. The preoperative assessment included liver function tests, ultrasonography and computed tomography. RESULTS: The surgical approaches were as follows: right hemihepatectomy for controlling intraperitoneal bleeding, and right extended hepatectomy and non-anatomic resection of the liver for intrahepatic hemorrhage. There were no deaths, and the postoperative complications were bile leakage and wound infection (re-operation, as well as intraperitoneal abscess (re-operation and pleural effusion. CONCLUSION: Spontaneous ruptured hepatocellular adenoma may be treated by surgery for controlling hemorrhages and stabilizing the patient, and the decision to operate depends upon both the patient's condition and the expertise of the surgical team.

Predicting articulated human motion from spatial processes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hauberg, Søren; Pedersen, Kim Steenstrup

2011-01-01

recent work where prior models are derived in terms of joint angles. This approach has several advantages. First of all, it allows us to construct motion models in low dimensional spaces, which makes motion estimation more robust. Secondly, as many types of motion are easily expressed in spatial...

Spontaneous Communication in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Review of Topographies and Interventions

Science.gov (United States)

Duffy, Cormac; Healy, Olive

2011-01-01

Lack of spontaneous communicative initiations appears to be a consistent problem in individuals with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD; Fujiki & Brinton, 2009). Spontaneous communication is emitted at a much lower frequency compared to individuals with language impairment and typically developing persons. Deficits of spontaneity in…

Dispositions toward Teaching Spatial Thinking through Geography: Conceptualization and an Exemplar Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Jo, Injeong; Bednarz, Sarah Witham

2014-01-01

The primary objectives of this article are: (1) to conceptualize teacher dispositions related to teaching spatial thinking in geography classrooms; and (2) to propose an exemplar assessment that can be used to prepare teachers who are disposed toward teaching spatial thinking through geography. A detailed description of the construction procedures…

Spontaneous Hepatic Rupture Associated with Preeclampsia: Treatment with Hepatic Artery Embolization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, Seung Boo; Goo, Dong Erk; Chang, Yun Woo; Kim, Yong Jae; Hwang, In Cheol; Han, Hyo Sang; Yoon, Jong Hyun; Lee, Tae Il [Soonchunhyang University Hospital, Gumi (Korea, Republic of)

2010-02-15

Spontaneous rupture of the liver due to preeclampsia is a rare condition of pregnant women, and it can be very dangerous if not treated. We report here on a case of successfully treating spontaneous liver rupture associated with preeclampsia by performing transcatheter hepatic arterial embolization. A 41-year-old woman with spontaneous rupture of the liver associated with preeclampsia was treated by hepatic arterial embolization

Spontaneous Hepatic Rupture Associated with Preeclampsia: Treatment with Hepatic Artery Embolization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Seung Boo; Goo, Dong Erk; Chang, Yun Woo; Kim, Yong Jae; Hwang, In Cheol; Han, Hyo Sang; Yoon, Jong Hyun; Lee, Tae Il

2010-01-01

Spontaneous rupture of the liver due to preeclampsia is a rare condition of pregnant women, and it can be very dangerous if not treated. We report here on a case of successfully treating spontaneous liver rupture associated with preeclampsia by performing transcatheter hepatic arterial embolization. A 41-year-old woman with spontaneous rupture of the liver associated with preeclampsia was treated by hepatic arterial embolization

Landscape generator : method to generate plausible landscape configurations for participatory spatial plan-making

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Slager, C.T.J.

2011-01-01

Contemporary regional spatial plan-making in the Netherlands is characterized as a complex process wherein multiple actors, with different levels of interests and demands, try to commonly develop a coherent and comprehensive set of future plan scenarios. The construction of the set of spatial plan

Spontaneous lateral sphenoid cerebrospinal fluid fistula: MRI diagnosis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew Goodier

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Spontaneous or primary cerebrospinal fluid (CSF fistula is a rare cause of CSF rhinorrhoea. Magnetic resonance imaging with high resolution highly T2-weighted images is valuable in preoperative localisation and characterisation of the defect particularly if a transnasal endoscopic approach is planned. This report describes the radiological evaluation and surgical management of a 53 year old male who presented with a spontaneous lateral sphenoid CSF fistula.

Acupuncture and Spontaneous Regression of a Radiculopathic Cervical Herniated Disc

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kim Sung-Ha

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The spontaneous regression of herniated cervical discs is not a well-established phenomenon. However, we encountered a case of a spontaneous regression of a severe radiculopathic herniated cervical disc that was treated with acupuncture, pharmacopuncture, and herb medicine. The symptoms were improved within 12 months of treatment. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI conducted at that time revealed marked regression of the herniated disc. This case provides an additional example of spontaneous regression of a herniated cervical disc documented by MRI following non-surgical treatment.

Strong evidence for spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking in (quenched) QCD

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barbour, I.M.; Gibbs, P.; Schierholz, G.; Teper, M.; Gilchrist, J.P.; Schneider, H.

1983-09-01

We calculate the chiral condensate for all quark masses using Kogut-Susskind fermions in lattice-regularized quenched QCD. The large volume behaviour of at small quark masses demonstrates that the explicit U(1) chiral symmetry is spontaneously broken. We perform the calculation for β = 5.1 to 5.9 and find very good continuum renormalization group behaviour. We infer that the spontaneous breaking we observe belongs to continuum QCD. This constitutes the first unambiguous demonstration of spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking in continuum quenched QCD. (orig.)

[Spatial evaluation on ecological and aesthetic quality of Beijing agricultural landscape].

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Ying; Xiao, He; Yu, Zhen-Rong

2009-10-01

A total of ten single indices mainly reflecting the ecological and aesthetic quality of agricultural landscape, including ecosystem function, naturalness, openness and diversity, contamination probability, and orderliness were selected, their different weights were given based on field survey and expert system, and an integrated evaluation index system of agricultural landscape quality was constructed. In the meantime, the land use data provided by GIS and the remote sensing data of vegetation index were used to evaluate the Beijing agricultural landscape quality and its spatial variation. There was a great spatial variation in the agricultural landscape quality of Beijing, being worse at the edges of urban area and towns, but better in suburbs. The agricultural landscape quality was mainly related to topography and human activity. To construct a large-scale integrated index system based on remote sensing data and landscape indices would have significance in evaluating the spatial variation of agricultural landscape quality.

Need for spontaneous breakdown of chiral symmetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salomone, A.; Schechter, J.; Tudron, T.

1981-01-01

The question of whether the chiral symmetry of the theory of strong interactions (with massless quarks) is required to be spontaneously broken is examined in the framework of a previously discussed effective Lagrangian for quantum chromodynamics. The assumption that physical masses of the theory be finite leads in a very direct way to the necessity of spontaneous breakdown. This result holds for all N/sub F/> or =2, where N/sub F/ is the number of different flavors of light quarks. The atypical cases N/sub F/ = 1,2 are discussed separately

Associative memory model with spontaneous neural activity

Science.gov (United States)

Kurikawa, Tomoki; Kaneko, Kunihiko

2012-05-01

We propose a novel associative memory model wherein the neural activity without an input (i.e., spontaneous activity) is modified by an input to generate a target response that is memorized for recall upon the same input. Suitable design of synaptic connections enables the model to memorize input/output (I/O) mappings equaling 70% of the total number of neurons, where the evoked activity distinguishes a target pattern from others. Spontaneous neural activity without an input shows chaotic dynamics but keeps some similarity with evoked activities, as reported in recent experimental studies.

Glycemia in Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage: Clinical Implications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alvis-Miranda Hernando

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Spontaneous cerebral hemorrhage or intracranial hemorrhage accounts for 10-15% of all strokes. Intracranial hemorrhage is much less common than ischemic stroke, but has higher mortality and morbidity, one of the leading causes of severe disability. Various alterations, among these the endocrine were identified when an intracerebral hemorrhage, these stress-mediated mechanisms exacerbate secondary injury. Deep knowledge of the injuries which are directly involved alterations of glucose, offers insight as cytotoxicity, neuronal death and metabolic dysregulations alter the prognosis of patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage.

Spontaneous abortion and physical strain around implantation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hjøllund, Niels Henrik Ingvar; Jensen, T.K.; Bonde, J.P.

2000-01-01

Existing studies of physical strain and spontaneous abortion are mainly retrospective or based only on pregnancies that have survived the first trimester. Furthermore, almost all studies have relied on averaged measures of physical strain, which tend to blur an effect if peak values during short...... pregnancy the women recorded physical strain prospectively in a structured diary. Physical strain around the time of implantation was associated with later spontaneous abortion. The adjusted risk ratio for women who reported physical strain higher than average at day 6 to 9 after the estimated date...

Inhibition of spontaneous induction of lambdoid prophages in Escherichia coli cultures: simple procedures with possible biotechnological applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wrobel Borys

2001-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Infections of bacterial cultures by bacteriophages are serious problems in biotechnological laboratories. Apart from such infections, prophage induction in the host cells may also be dangerous. Escherichia coli is a commonly used host in biotechnological production, and many laboratory strains of this bacterium harbour lambdoid prophages. These prophages may be induced under certain conditions leading to phage lytic development. This is fatal for further cultivations as relatively low, though still significant, numbers of phages may be overlooked. Thus, subsequent cultures of non-lysogenic strains may be infected and destroyed by such phage. Results Here we report that slow growth of bacteria decreases deleterious effects of spontaneous lambdoid prophage induction. Moreover, replacement of glucose with glycerol in a medium stimulates lysogenic development of the phage after infection of E. coli cells. A plasmid was constructed overexpressing the phage 434 cI gene, coding for the repressor of phage promoters which are necessary for lytic development. Overproduction of the cI repressor abolished spontaneous induction of the λimm434 prophage. Conclusions Simple procedures that alleviate problems with spontaneous induction of lambdoid prophage and subsequent infection of E. coli strains by these phages are described. Low bacterial growth rate, replacement of glucose with glycerol in a medium and overproduction of the cI repressor minimise the risk of prophage induction during cultivation of lysogenic bacteria and subsequent infection of other bacterial strains.

Spontaneous Play and Imagination in Everyday Science Classroom Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Andrée, Maria; Lager-Nyqvist, Lotta

2013-01-01

In science education, students sometimes create and engage in spontaneous science-oriented play where ideas about science and scientists are put to use. However, in previous research, little attention has been given to the role of informal spontaneous play in school science classrooms. We argue that, in order to enhance our understanding of…

'Oh my god, we're not doing nothing': young people's experiences of spatial regulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Gray, Debra; Manning, Rachel

2014-12-01

Social psychologists have become increasingly concerned with examining the ways in which social practices are interrelated with their location. Critical perspectives have highlighted the traditional lack of attention given to both the collective aspects of spatial identities, together with the discursive practices that construct the relationships between people and places. In this article, we draw together the developing discursive work on place with work on children's geographies, in order to examine young people's accounts of spatial regulation. Adopting a discursive approach to the analysis of focus group discussion, we illustrate a variety of concerns managed in relation to spatial practices by 41 young people living in a large city in the South of England. Our findings suggest that everyday use of public space by young people is constructed at a nexus of competing concerns around childhood/adulthood, freedom, and citizenship, and illustrate the dynamic nature of place, and its regulation, as a resource for constructing identities. © 2013 The British Psychological Society.

Learning shapes spontaneous activity itinerating over memorized states.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomoki Kurikawa

Full Text Available Learning is a process that helps create neural dynamical systems so that an appropriate output pattern is generated for a given input. Often, such a memory is considered to be included in one of the attractors in neural dynamical systems, depending on the initial neural state specified by an input. Neither neural activities observed in the absence of inputs nor changes caused in the neural activity when an input is provided were studied extensively in the past. However, recent experimental studies have reported existence of structured spontaneous neural activity and its changes when an input is provided. With this background, we propose that memory recall occurs when the spontaneous neural activity changes to an appropriate output activity upon the application of an input, and this phenomenon is known as bifurcation in the dynamical systems theory. We introduce a reinforcement-learning-based layered neural network model with two synaptic time scales; in this network, I/O relations are successively memorized when the difference between the time scales is appropriate. After the learning process is complete, the neural dynamics are shaped so that it changes appropriately with each input. As the number of memorized patterns is increased, the generated spontaneous neural activity after learning shows itineration over the previously learned output patterns. This theoretical finding also shows remarkable agreement with recent experimental reports, where spontaneous neural activity in the visual cortex without stimuli itinerate over evoked patterns by previously applied signals. Our results suggest that itinerant spontaneous activity can be a natural outcome of successive learning of several patterns, and it facilitates bifurcation of the network when an input is provided.

Tactile feedback improves auditory spatial localization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monica eGori

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Our recent studies suggest that congenitally blind adults have severely impaired thresholds in an auditory spatial-bisection task, pointing to the importance of vision in constructing complex auditory spatial maps (Gori et al., 2014. To explore strategies that may improve the auditory spatial sense in visually impaired people, we investigated the impact of tactile feedback on spatial auditory localization in 48 blindfolded sighted subjects. We measured auditory spatial bisection thresholds before and after training, either with tactile feedback, verbal feedback or no feedback. Audio thresholds were first measured with a spatial bisection task: subjects judged whether the second sound of a three sound sequence was spatially closer to the first or the third sound. The tactile-feedback group underwent two audio-tactile feedback sessions of 100 trials, where each auditory trial was followed by the same spatial sequence played on the subject’s forearm; auditory spatial bisection thresholds were evaluated after each session. In the verbal-feedback condition, the positions of the sounds were verbally reported to the subject after each feedback trial. The no-feedback group did the same sequence of trials, with no feedback. Performance improved significantly only after audio-tactile feedback. The results suggest that direct tactile feedback interacts with the auditory spatial localization system, possibly by a process of cross-sensory recalibration. Control tests with the subject rotated suggested that this effect occurs only when the tactile and acoustic sequences are spatially coherent. Our results suggest that the tactile system can be used to recalibrate the auditory sense of space. These results encourage the possibility of designing rehabilitation programs to help blind persons establish a robust auditory sense of space, through training with the tactile modality.

Intelligent spatial ecosystem modeling using parallel processors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maxwell, T.; Costanza, R.

1993-01-01

Spatial modeling of ecosystems is essential if one's modeling goals include developing a relatively realistic description of past behavior and predictions of the impacts of alternative management policies on future ecosystem behavior. Development of these models has been limited in the past by the large amount of input data required and the difficulty of even large mainframe serial computers in dealing with large spatial arrays. These two limitations have begun to erode with the increasing availability of remote sensing data and GIS systems to manipulate it, and the development of parallel computer systems which allow computation of large, complex, spatial arrays. Although many forms of dynamic spatial modeling are highly amenable to parallel processing, the primary focus in this project is on process-based landscape models. These models simulate spatial structure by first compartmentalizing the landscape into some geometric design and then describing flows within compartments and spatial processes between compartments according to location-specific algorithms. The authors are currently building and running parallel spatial models at the regional scale for the Patuxent River region in Maryland, the Everglades in Florida, and Barataria Basin in Louisiana. The authors are also planning a project to construct a series of spatially explicit linked ecological and economic simulation models aimed at assessing the long-term potential impacts of global climate change

Structural response of existing spatial truss roof construction based on Cosserat rod theory

Science.gov (United States)

Miśkiewicz, Mikołaj

2018-04-01

Paper presents the application of the Cosserat rod theory and newly developed associated finite elements code as the tools that support in the expert-designing engineering practice. Mechanical principles of the 3D spatially curved rods, dynamics (statics) laws, principle of virtual work are discussed. Corresponding FEM approach with interpolation and accumulation techniques of state variables are shown that enable the formulation of the C0 Lagrangian rod elements with 6-degrees of freedom per node. Two test examples are shown proving the correctness and suitability of the proposed formulation. Next, the developed FEM code is applied to assess the structural response of the spatial truss roof of the "Olivia" Sports Arena Gdansk, Poland. The numerical results are compared with load test results. It is shown that the proposed FEM approach yields correct results.

General theory of spontaneous emission near exceptional points.

Science.gov (United States)

Pick, Adi; Zhen, Bo; Miller, Owen D; Hsu, Chia W; Hernandez, Felipe; Rodriguez, Alejandro W; Soljačić, Marin; Johnson, Steven G

2017-05-29

We present a general theory of spontaneous emission at exceptional points (EPs)-exotic degeneracies in non-Hermitian systems. Our theory extends beyond spontaneous emission to any light-matter interaction described by the local density of states (e.g., absorption, thermal emission, and nonlinear frequency conversion). Whereas traditional spontaneous-emission theories imply infinite enhancement factors at EPs, we derive finite bounds on the enhancement, proving maximum enhancement of 4 in passive systems with second-order EPs and significantly larger enhancements (exceeding 400×) in gain-aided and higher-order EP systems. In contrast to non-degenerate resonances, which are typically associated with Lorentzian emission curves in systems with low losses, EPs are associated with non-Lorentzian lineshapes, leading to enhancements that scale nonlinearly with the resonance quality factor. Our theory can be applied to dispersive media, with proper normalization of the resonant modes.

The spontaneous market order and evolution.

Science.gov (United States)

Beck, Naomi

2016-08-01

Darwin's theory of natural selection and the idea of a spontaneous order share a fundamental feature: the claim that apparent design or order do not necessarily imply a designer or rational planning. But they also present important differences, which touch upon central questions such as the evolution of morality, the role of human agency in social evolution, the existence (or not) of directionality in undesigned processes, and the presence (nor not) of a providential element in evolutionary accounts. In this article, I explore these themes and probe the relationship between the notion of a spontaneous order and the theory of evolution by natural selection. The reflections of Nobel laureate in economics, F.A. von Hayek, provide the beginning and endpoint in this voyage, for they constitute the most pronounced effort to develop a full-fledged theory combining evolution and economics in recent times. But along the way, I also investigate the influence of classical political economy on Darwin's thought, primarily that of Adam Smith, and consider the reasons for which Darwin did not refer to Smith when discussing the principle of natural selection in The Origin of Species. I conclude that the spontaneous order, as understood by Hayek, and evolution by natural selection constitute two disparate concepts. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Factors affecting the spontaneous mutational spectra in somatic mammalian cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

О.А. Ковальова

2006-04-01

Full Text Available  In our survey of references we are discussed the influence of factors biological origin on the spontaneous mutation specters in mammalian. Seasonal and age components influence on the frequence of cytogenetic anomalies. The immune and endocrinous systems are take part in control of the alteration of the spontaneous mutation specters. Genetical difference of sensibility in animal and human at the alteration of factors enviroment as and  genetical differences of repair systems activity are may influence on individual variation of spontaneous destabilization characters of chromosomal apparatus.

Measurement of the spatial resolution and rate capability of an induction drift chamber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roderburg, E.; Broeders, R.; Dahmen, M.; Decker, G.; Kilian, K.; Kurtenbach, A.; Lippert, C.; Oelert, W.; Sehl, G.; Steinkamp, O.; Stratmann, R.; Walsh, S.; Ziolkowski, M.

1992-01-01

The limits of spatial resolution of an induction drift chamber (IDC) lead to the concept of an asymmetric IDC with Flash ADC readout. The construction of a chamber is described. The results of two measurements concerning the spatial resolution and the rate capability are reported. (orig.)

Four cases of spontaneous rupture of the urinary bladder

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amano, Toshiyasu; Miwa, Sotaro; Takashima, Hiroshi; Takemae, Katsuro

2002-01-01

Between November 1997 and March 2001, 4 female patients from 44 to 65 years of age with a spontaneous rupture of the urinary bladder were analyzed. They complained of abdominal pain and had undergone an intra-pelvic gynecological operation (3 for uterine cancer, 1 for an ovarian cyst) several years before. The three with uterine cancer had also received radiation therapy. For their present condition, spontaneous urinary bladder rupture, their treatment was indwelling a urethral catheter. Two of them have had no recurrence of urinary bladder rupture after one month since having the urethral catheter indwelt. One, however, had to have the catheter re-indwelt due to unsuccessful suturing of the urinary bladder wall. The fourth patient had bilateral nephrostomy tubes due to severe radiation cystitis. Thus, one can infer that intra-pelvic gynecological operations and radiation therapy are major factors causing spontaneous urinary bladder rupture. While indwelling a urethral catheter may be effective for some patients with a spontaneous rupture of the urinary bladder, it may be very difficult to treat more complicated cases. (author)

Indoor 3D Route Modeling Based On Estate Spatial Data

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, H.; Wen, Y.; Jiang, J.; Huang, W.

2014-04-01

Indoor three-dimensional route model is essential for space intelligence navigation and emergency evacuation. This paper is motivated by the need of constructing indoor route model automatically and as far as possible. By comparing existing building data sources, this paper firstly explained the reason why the estate spatial management data is chosen as the data source. Then, an applicable method of construction three-dimensional route model in a building is introduced by establishing the mapping relationship between geographic entities and their topological expression. This data model is a weighted graph consist of "node" and "path" to express the spatial relationship and topological structure of a building components. The whole process of modelling internal space of a building is addressed by two key steps: (1) each single floor route model is constructed, including path extraction of corridor using Delaunay triangulation algorithm with constrained edge, fusion of room nodes into the path; (2) the single floor route model is connected with stairs and elevators and the multi-floor route model is eventually generated. In order to validate the method in this paper, a shopping mall called "Longjiang New City Plaza" in Nanjing is chosen as a case of study. And the whole building space is constructed according to the modelling method above. By integrating of existing path finding algorithm, the usability of this modelling method is verified, which shows the indoor three-dimensional route modelling method based on estate spatial data in this paper can support indoor route planning and evacuation route design very well.

Mice lacking hippocampal left-right asymmetry show non-spatial learning deficits.

Science.gov (United States)

Shimbo, Akihiro; Kosaki, Yutaka; Ito, Isao; Watanabe, Shigeru

2018-01-15

Left-right asymmetry is known to exist at several anatomical levels in the brain and recent studies have provided further evidence to show that it also exists at a molecular level in the hippocampal CA3-CA1 circuit. The distribution of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor NR2B subunits in the apical and basal synapses of CA1 pyramidal neurons is asymmetrical if the input arrives from the left or right CA3 pyramidal neurons. In the present study, we examined the role of hippocampal asymmetry in cognitive function using β2-microglobulin knock-out (β2m KO) mice, which lack hippocampal asymmetry. We tested β2m KO mice in a series of spatial and non-spatial learning tasks and compared the performances of β2m KO and C57BL6/J wild-type (WT) mice. The β2m KO mice appeared normal in both spatial reference memory and spatial working memory tasks but they took more time than WT mice in learning the two non-spatial learning tasks (i.e., a differential reinforcement of lower rates of behavior (DRL) task and a straight runway task). The β2m KO mice also showed less precision in their response timing in the DRL task and showed weaker spontaneous recovery during extinction in the straight runway task. These results indicate that hippocampal asymmetry is important for certain characteristics of non-spatial learning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Increased spontaneous mitotic segregation in MMS-sensitive mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prakash, S.; Prakash, L.

1977-01-01

Methyl methanesulfonate (MMS)-sensitive mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae belonging to four different complementation groups, when homozygous, increase the rate of spontaneous mitotic segregation to canavanine resistance from heterozygous sensitive (can/sup r//+) diploids by 13- to 170-fold. The mms8-1 mutant is MMS and x-ray sensitive and increases the rate of spontaneous mitotic segregation 170-fold. The mms9-1 and mms13-1 mutants are sensitive to x rays and uv, respectively, in addition to MMS, and increase the rate of spontaneous mitotic segregation by 13-fold and 85-fold, respectively. The mutant mms21-1 is sensitive to MMS, x rays and uv and increases the rate of spontaneous mitotic segregation 23-fold

High-rise construction in the Saint Petersburg agglomeration in 1703–1950s

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sementsov Sergey

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Regularities of high-rise construction (implemented projects and developments in Saint Petersburg and the Saint Petersburg agglomeration since the foundation of the city in 1703 till the 1950s are considered. Based on these regularities, a single spatially developed system of vertical dominants is formed. High-rise construction in the city and its suburbs started in the 1710s and continues up to the present time. In the considered decades (1703–1950s, high-rise construction mostly performed urban-planning functions (with vertical and symbolic dominants, relying on patterns of the visual perception of man-made landscapes under development. Since the 1710s, the construction of vertical dominants (mainly temples, spires of towers, lighthouses, etc. of five ranks (depending on the altitude range and in relation to the background development was conducted in territories of the entire agglomeration. These dominants were arranged in landscapes of the city and suburbs with almost mathematically precise accuracy and according to special regulations. Such dominants obtained particular descriptive and silhouette characteristics in accordance with the conditions of spatial perception. In some periods of city development, attempts were made to create monuments (symbolic dominants of specific height and include those in the spatial system of high-rise dominants as significant elements of the city silhouette.

Spontaneous ripple formation in phosphorene: electronic properties and possible applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Yungang; Yang, Li; Zu, Xiaotao; Gao, Fei

2016-06-09

According to the Mermin-Wagner theorem and theory of elasticity, long-range order in two-dimensional (2D) crystals will be inevitably destroyed due to a thermal fluctuation. Thus, a 2D lattice prefers a corrugation meaning that a 2D crystal is easy to present a ripple. In this work, we, via employing ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations, for the first time evidenced that the inherent dynamics of phosphorene would lead to a spontaneous formation of ripples at room temperature. The height of a ripple closely associates with the temperature and the width. Via density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we further demonstrated that the emergence of ripples would remarkably reduce the bandgap of phosphorene. Via the construction of the unique phosphorene structure, we finally found that such a rippled structure is expected to be used in the light-emitting field. These results give us further knowledge of phosphorene, which goes beyond the current scope of phosphorene limited to the flat lattice.

Spontaneous Formation of Nanopillar Arrays in Ultrathin Viscous Films: Critical Role of Thermocapillary Stresses

Science.gov (United States)

Troian, Sandra; Dietzel, Mathias

2010-03-01

Nanoscale structures manifest exceedingly large surface to volume ratios and are therefore highly susceptible to control by surface stresses. Actuation techniques which can exploit this feature provide a key strategy for construction and self-organization of large area arrays. During the past decade, several groups have reported that molten polymer nanofilms subject to an ultra-large transverse thermal gradient undergo spontaneous formation of nanopillar arrays. The prevailing explanation is that coherent interfacial reflection of acoustic phonons causes periodic modulation of the radiation pressure leading to instability and pillar growth. We demonstrate instead that thermocapillary forces play a crucial if not dominant role in the formation process due to the strong modulation of surface tension with temperature. Any nanoscale viscous film is prone to such formations, not just polymeric films. Analysis of the governing interface equation reveals the mechanism controlling the growth, spacing and symmetry of these self-assembling arrays. We discuss how these findings are being used in our laboratory to construct nanoscale components for optical and photonic applications.

Spontaneously emerging cortical representations of visual attributes

Science.gov (United States)

Kenet, Tal; Bibitchkov, Dmitri; Tsodyks, Misha; Grinvald, Amiram; Arieli, Amos

2003-10-01

Spontaneous cortical activity-ongoing activity in the absence of intentional sensory input-has been studied extensively, using methods ranging from EEG (electroencephalography), through voltage sensitive dye imaging, down to recordings from single neurons. Ongoing cortical activity has been shown to play a critical role in development, and must also be essential for processing sensory perception, because it modulates stimulus-evoked activity, and is correlated with behaviour. Yet its role in the processing of external information and its relationship to internal representations of sensory attributes remains unknown. Using voltage sensitive dye imaging, we previously established a close link between ongoing activity in the visual cortex of anaesthetized cats and the spontaneous firing of a single neuron. Here we report that such activity encompasses a set of dynamically switching cortical states, many of which correspond closely to orientation maps. When such an orientation state emerged spontaneously, it spanned several hypercolumns and was often followed by a state corresponding to a proximal orientation. We suggest that dynamically switching cortical states could represent the brain's internal context, and therefore reflect or influence memory, perception and behaviour.

Case of a spontaneously ruptured epidermoid cyst

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shiroyama, Y; Saiki, M; Ueda, H; Katayama, S; Mitani, T

1987-02-01

Intracranial fat-containing congenital tumors are characterized by negative absorption values on CT. We hereby report a case of an epidermoid cyst with subarachnoid free fats diagnosed preoperatively by CT. A 21-year-old female was admitted to our hospital because of continuous mild headache and nausea. At the time of admission, the results of her physical and neurological examinations were normal. CT, however, demonstrated multiple subarachnoid low-density spots and a suprasellar low-density area with high-density spots. In addition, there were negative absorption values (-12 -- -77), suggesting free fats. A spontaneously ruptured epidermoid or dermoid cyst was diagnosed on the basis of these findings. At surgery, a suprasellar tumor containing a yellowish, cheese-like material was confirmed. The patient made an uneventful recovery and was discharged 14 days after surgery. There have been several published reports of CT appearances of intracranial fat-containing tumors. However, spontaneously ruptured cases diagnosed by CT are rare. CT was found to be useful for the diagnosis of spontaneously ruptured cases of fat-containing tumors.

Spatial factors as contextual qualifiers of information seeking

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Savolainen

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. This paper investigates the ways in which spatial factors have been approached in information seeking studies. The main attention was focused on studies discussing information seeking on the level of source selection and use. Method. Conceptual analysis of about 100 articles and books thematizing spatial issues of information seeking. Due to research economy, the main attention was paid to studies on everyday life information seeking. Results. Three major viewpoints were identified with regard to the degree of objectivity of spatial factors. The objectifying approach conceives of spatial factors as external and entity-like qualifiers that primarly constrain information seeking. The realistic-pragmatic approach emphasizes the ways in which the availabilty of information sources in different places such as daily work environments orient information seeking. The perspectivist approach focuses on how people subjectively assess the significance of various sources by means of spatial constructs such as information horizons. Conclusion. Spatial factors are centrally important contextual qualifiers of information seeking. There is a need to further explore the potential of the above viewpoints by relating the spatial and temporal factors of information seeking.

Planning, architecture, seismic, construction and energy-related criteria for sustainable spatial development in the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve area

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vasile Meiţă

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve represents a complex of ecosystems embedding a biome that had been included on UNESCO World Heritage list due to its global environmental importance. The outstanding natural diversity, including ecosystems, habitats and species situated at the top of European and International conservation lists, is mixed with an equally rich and important cultural (ethnic and religious diversity of the human communities inhabiting the area. According to the guidelines of the Man and the Biosphere Programme of UNESCO, the biosphere reserves including human settlements should be managed such that they could constitute an example for what sustainable development means. Starting from the spatial dimension added to the traditional socioeconomic, ecological and cultural pillars of sustainable development, the paper examines planning, architecture, seismic, construction and energy-related criteria that could substantiate a sustainable development model applicable to the Danube Delta, and counter the effects of clime change in the area. The results suggest that the traditional practices of the inhabitants could offer sustainable solutions and help preserving the natural and cultural diversity of the region.

Leptin attenuates the detrimental effects of β-amyloid on spatial memory and hippocampal later-phase long term potentiation in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Tong, Jia-Qing; Zhang, Jun; Hao, Ming; Yang, Ju; Han, Yu-Fei; Liu, Xiao-Jie; Shi, Hui; Wu, Mei-Na; Liu, Qing-Song; Qi, Jin-Shun

2015-07-01

β-Amyloid (Aβ) is the main component of amyloid plaques developed in the brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The increasing burden of Aβ in the cortex and hippocampus is closely correlated with memory loss and cognition deficits in AD. Recently, leptin, a 16kD peptide derived mainly from white adipocyte tissue, has been appreciated for its neuroprotective function, although less is known about the effects of leptin on spatial memory and synaptic plasticity. The present study investigated the neuroprotective effects of leptin against Aβ-induced deficits in spatial memory and in vivo hippocampal late-phase long-term potentiation (L-LTP) in rats. Y maze spontaneous alternation was used to assess short term working memory, and the Morris water maze task was used to assess long term reference memory. Hippocampal field potential recordings were performed to observe changes in L-LTP. We found that chronically intracerebroventricular injection of leptin (1μg) effectively alleviated Aβ1-42 (20μg)-induced spatial memory impairments of Y maze spontaneous alternation and Morris water maze. In addition, chronic administration of leptin also reversed Aβ1-42-induced suppression of in vivo hippocampal L-LTP in rats. Together, these results suggest that chronic leptin treatments reversed Aβ-induced deficits in learning and memory and the maintenance of L-LTP. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Bayesian Spatial NBDA for Diffusion Data with Home-Base Coordinates.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Glenna F Nightingale

Full Text Available Network-based diffusion analysis (NBDA is a statistical method that allows the researcher to identify and quantify a social influence on the spread of behaviour through a population. Hitherto, NBDA analyses have not directly modelled spatial population structure. Here we present a spatial extension of NBDA, applicable to diffusion data where the spatial locations of individuals in the population, or of their home bases or nest sites, are available. The method is based on the estimation of inter-individual associations (for association matrix construction from the mean inter-point distances as represented on a spatial point pattern of individuals, nests or home bases. We illustrate the method using a simulated dataset, and show how environmental covariates (such as that obtained from a satellite image, or from direct observations in the study area can also be included in the analysis. The analysis is conducted in a Bayesian framework, which has the advantage that prior knowledge of the rate at which the individuals acquire a given task can be incorporated into the analysis. This method is especially valuable for studies for which detailed spatially structured data, but no other association data, is available. Technological advances are making the collection of such data in the wild more feasible: for example, bio-logging facilitates the collection of a wide range of variables from animal populations in the wild. We provide an R package, spatialnbda, which is hosted on the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN. This package facilitates the construction of association matrices with the spatial x and y coordinates as the input arguments, and spatial NBDA analyses.

The Spontaneous Combustion of Railway Ties and Asphalt Shingles

Science.gov (United States)

Leslie, Geoffrey

Many Low Carbon Fuels (LCFs) present unknown spontaneous combustion risks, which must be quantified before their use as fossil fuel replacements. Wood and coal spontaneous combustion is well understood; however, LCFs weather, and subsequent chemical changes could affect their spontaneous combustion properties. LCF spontaneous combustion could lead to accidental fires with possible loss of life, limb and property. The spontaneous combustion risks of two LCFs, discarded creosote-treated wooden railway ties and roofing asphalt shingles, were investigated with calorimetry and heat transfer experiments. Chemical changes due to weathering were studied with pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (py-GC/MS). Creosote-treated wooden railway tie dust, roofing asphalt shingle particles, poplar wood pellets, and petroleum coke self-heating were studied with isothermal calorimetry. Railway tie dust and asphalt shingle heat transfer were characterized with a guarded hot plate. Petroleum coke self-heating was consistent with coal, while both poplar pellets and railway tie dust were found to be more reactive compared to oven test results of similar materials. The observed increase in reactivity was probably a result of significant moisture contenint in the pellet and railway tie dust. Critical conditions for spontaneous combustion were evaluated with the Frank-Kamenetskii parameter, assuming an ambient temperature of 40°C and constant moisture content. Kamenetskii calculations indicate that a 1.6 m cube of railway tie dust, or a 58 m cube of asphalt particles, would be unstable and combust. LCF chemistry may have been affected by weathering, which would cause chemical changes that affect their spontaneous combustion properties. Therefore, railway tie wood and roofing asphalt shingle chemistry were investigated by identifying products of 250° and 550°C pyrolysis with py-GC/MS. Railway tie wood pyrolyzates did not show signs of weathering; in contrast, asphalt pyrolysis

Effects of spatial and spectral frequencies on wide-field functional imaging (wifi) characterization of preclinical breast cancer models

Science.gov (United States)

Moy, Austin; Kim, Jae G.; Lee, Eva Y. H. P.; Choi, Bernard

2010-02-01

A common strategy to study breast cancer is the use of the preclinical model. These models provide a physiologically relevant and controlled environment in which to study both response to novel treatments and the biology of the cancer. Preclinical models, including the spontaneous tumor model and mammary window chamber model, are very amenable to optical imaging and to this end, we have developed a wide-field functional imaging (WiFI) instrument that is perfectly suited to studying tumor metabolism in preclinical models. WiFI combines two optical imaging modalities, spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) and laser speckle imaging (LSI). Our current WiFI imaging protocol consists of multispectral imaging in the near infrared (650-980 nm) spectrum, over a wide (7 cm x 5 cm) field of view. Using SFDI, the spatially-resolved reflectance of sinusoidal patterns projected onto the tissue is assessed, and optical properties of the tissue are determined, which are then used to extract tissue chromophore concentrations in the form of oxy-, deoxy-, and total hemoglobin concentrations, and percentage of lipid and water. In the current study, we employ Monte Carlo simulations of SFDI light propagation in order to characterize the penetration depth of light in both the spontaneous tumor model and mammary window chamber model. Preliminary results suggest that different spatial frequency and wavelength combinations have different penetration depths, suggesting the potential depth sectioning capability of the SFDI component of WiFI.

Spontaneous fungal peritonitis: a rare but severe complication of liver cirrhosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Gravito-Soares, Marta; Gravito-Soares, Elisa; Lopes, Sandra; Ribeiro, Graça; Figueiredo, Pedro

2017-09-01

Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis is the most common infectious complication in cirrhosis. Spontaneous fungal peritonitis is rare and remains unknown. In this work, spontaneous fungal peritonitis as well as risk factors and prognosis are characterized. A retrospective case-control study of 253 consecutive admissions by peritonitis in cirrhotic patients was carried out between 2006 and 2015. Comparison of patients with spontaneous fungal peritonitis (cases) and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis with positive microbiologic ascitic fluid culture (controls) was performed. Variables such as sociodemographic and clinical features, cirrhosis etiology, liver dysfunction scores, ascitic and laboratory parameters, invasive procedures, and prognosis were evaluated. Of the 231 patients, eight (3.5%) developed spontaneous fungal peritonitis, 62.5% of cases being coinfected with bacteria. Candida spp. was isolated in 87.5% of cases, mainly Candida albicans (37.5%) and C. krusei (25.0%). Patients with spontaneous fungal peritonitis had higher ascitic fluid lactate dehydrogenase (288.4±266.6 vs. 161.0±179.5; P=0.011), blood leukocyte count (15187.5±5432.3 vs. 10969.8±6949.5; P=0.028), blood urea nitrogen (69.8±3.1 vs. 36.3±25.5; P=0.001), higher number of invasive procedures (colonoscopy: 25.0 vs. 0.8%, P=0.001; urinary catheterization: 87.5 vs. 49.6%, P=0.038; nasogastric intubation: 87.5 vs. 26.9%, P=0.001), and longer duration of hospital stay (30.0±32.9 vs. 18.9±17.0 days; P=0.031). No statistical difference was found between the two groups for Model for End-Stage Liver Disease, Model for End-Stage Liver Disease-sodium, and Child-Pugh scores. Spontaneous fungal peritonitis was associated with a worse prognosis, particularly severe sepsis/septic shock (87.5 vs. 42.8%, P=0.023), admission in the gastroenterology intensive care unit (87.5 vs. 24.4%; P=0.001), and overall (62.5 vs. 31.9%; P=0.039) or 30-day mortality (50.0 vs. 24.4%; P=0.034), with a mean diagnosis

Human heme oxygenase-1 gene transfer lowers blood pressure and promotes growth in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Sabaawy, H E; Zhang, F; Nguyen, X; ElHosseiny, A; Nasjletti, A; Schwartzman, M; Dennery, P; Kappas, A; Abraham, N G

2001-08-01

Heme oxygenase (HO) catalyzes the conversion of heme to biliverdin, with release of free iron and carbon monoxide. Both heme and carbon monoxide have been implicated in the regulation of vascular tone. A retroviral vector containing human HO-1 cDNA (LSN-HHO-1) was constructed and subjected to purification and concentration of the viral particles to achieve 5x10(9) to 1x10(10) colony-forming units per milliliter. The ability of concentrated infectious viral particles to express human HO-1 (HHO-1) in vivo was tested. A single intracardiac injection of the concentrated infectious viral particles (expressing HHO-1) to 5-day-old spontaneously hypertensive rats resulted in functional expression of the HHO-1 gene and attenuation of the development of hypertension. Rats expressing HHO-1 showed a significant decrease in urinary excretion of a vasoconstrictor arachidonic acid metabolite and a reduction in myogenic responses to increased intraluminal pressure in isolated arterioles. Unexpectedly, HHO-1 chimeric rats showed a simultaneous significant proportionate increase in somatic growth. Thus, delivery of HHO-1 gene by retroviral vector attenuates the development of hypertension and promotes body growth in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Spontaneous ejaculation in a wild Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tadamichi Morisaka

Full Text Available Spontaneous ejaculation, which is defined as the release of seminal fluids without apparent sexual stimulation, has been documented in boreoeutherian mammals. Here we report spontaneous ejaculation in a wild Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus, and present a video of this rare behavior. This is the first report of spontaneous ejaculation by an aquatic mammal, and the first video of this behavior in animals to be published in a scientific journal.

Trend of Cadherin-11 expression and its impact on cartilage degradation in the temporomandibular joints of guinea pigs with spontaneous osteoarthritis.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Mengjie; Lu, Haiping; Yu, Fengyang; Zhou, Yiqun

2016-08-01

This study aims to investigate spatial and temporal changes in cadherin-11 (CAD-11) expression and their effects on cartilage degeneration in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) of guinea pigs with spontaneous osteoarthritis (OA). Dunkin-Hartley (DH) and Bristol strain 2 (BS2) guinea pigs at ages of 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months were categorized into two groups and analyzed. The bilateral TMJ condyles of DH and BS2 guinea pigs were harvested and fixed. The distribution and expression profiles of CAD-11, collagen type II, and matrix metalloproteinase 3 (MMP-3) were detected by immunohistological assays. Histological micrographs of the condyle cartilage were obtained and analyzed. Osteoarthritis can be spontaneously induced by mechanical stress in DH guinea pigs. The main histopathological changes in the TMJ structure and increased expression of MMP-3 occurred within 6-9 months of ages in DH guinea pigs with spontaneous OA. By contrast, minimal to mild cartilage degradations were observed in the TMJ of BS2 guinea pigs even at the age of 12 months. From as early as 3 months of age, the expression levels of CAD-11 were upregulated in the TMJ of DH guinea pigs compared with those in BS2 animals. CAD-11 expression differed between the two groups at 12 months of age. Increased CAD-11 expression within cartilage is associated with the development and progression of OA between the two strains of guinea pigs. Therefore, CAD-11 expression in TMJ could be an important predisposing factor for the development of spontaneous OA. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The importance of causal connections in the comprehension of spontaneous spoken discourse.

Science.gov (United States)

Cevasco, Jazmin; van den Broek, Paul

2008-11-01

In this study, we investigated the psychological processes in spontaneous discourse comprehension through a network theory of discourse representation. Existing models of narrative comprehension describe the importance of causality processing for forming a representation of a text, but usually in the context of deliberately composed texts rather than in spontaneous, unplanned discourse. Our aim was to determine whether spontaneous discourse components with many causal connections are represented more strongly than components with few connections--similar to the findings in text comprehension literature--and whether any such effects depend on the medium in which the spontaneous discourse is presented (oral vs. written). Participants either listened to or read a transcription of a section of a radio transmission. They then recalled the spontaneous discourse material and answered comprehension questions. Results indicate that the processing of causal connections plays an important role in the comprehension of spontaneous spoken discourse, and do not indicate that their effects on recall are weaker in the comprehension of oral discourse than in the comprehension of written discourse.

Male-mediated spontaneous abortion among spouses of stainless steel welders

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hjollund, N H; Bonde, J P; Jensen, T K

2000-01-01

Male-mediated spontaneous abortion has never been documented for humans. The welding of stainless steel is associated with the pulmonary absorption of hexavalent chromium, which has genotoxic effects on germ cells in rodents. Clinical and early subclinical spontaneous abortions were examined among...

Spontaneous esophageal-pleural fistula

OpenAIRE

Vyas, Sameer; Prakash, Mahesh; Kaman, Lileshwar; Bhardwaj, Nidhi; Khandelwal, Niranjan

2011-01-01

Spontaneous esophageal-pleural fistula (EPF) is a rare entity. We describe a case in a middle-aged female who presented with severe retrosternal chest pain and shortness of breadth. Chest computed tomography showed right EPF and hydropneumothorax. She was managed conservatively keeping the chest tube drainage and performing feeding jejunostomy. A brief review of the imaging finding and management of EPF is discussed.

Spontaneous esophageal-pleural fistula.

Science.gov (United States)

Vyas, Sameer; Prakash, Mahesh; Kaman, Lileshwar; Bhardwaj, Nidhi; Khandelwal, Niranjan

2011-10-01

Spontaneous esophageal-pleural fistula (EPF) is a rare entity. We describe a case in a middle-aged female who presented with severe retrosternal chest pain and shortness of breadth. Chest computed tomography showed right EPF and hydropneumothorax. She was managed conservatively keeping the chest tube drainage and performing feeding jejunostomy. A brief review of the imaging finding and management of EPF is discussed.

Spontaneous Bilateral Meningoencephalocoeles of the Temporal Bones

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oliver Rose

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Spontaneous tegmen tympani defects are rare with even rarer bilateral cases. The symptoms are nonspecific; hence, a high index of suspicion is required to prevent serious intracranial complications. We present a case of spontaneous bilateral tegmen tympani defects with associated meningoencephalocoeles in a 54-year-old male who presented with the signs and symptoms of severe meningitis. After careful workup which included a lumbar puncture, CT and MRI scans, both defects were repaired using a middle fossa approach. The patient made an uneventful recovery with complete cessation of otorrhoea and improvement in his hearing.

[Atypical etiology of rhinorrhea: spontaneous bilateral temporal encephalocele].

Science.gov (United States)

Lorente Muñoz, Asís; Lisbona Alquézar, María Pilar; González Martínez, Luis; Sevil Navarro, Jorge; Llorente Arenas, Eva María

2012-01-01

Spontaneous herniation of brain parenchyma through a dural and osseous defect in the temporal bone is a rare entity and a bilateral form is even more infrequent. It usually presents as an intermittent but persistent otorrhea. Manifestation as nose cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak is very uncommon. Our objective is presenting this unusual case report of a spontaneous bilateral encephalocele with a bilateral tegmen tympani defect. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Shell theorem for spontaneous emission

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristensen, Philip Trøst; Mortensen, Jakob Egeberg; Lodahl, Peter

2013-01-01

and therefore is given exactly by the dipole approximation theory. This surprising result is a spontaneous emission counterpart to the shell theorems of classical mechanics and electrostatics and provides insights into the physics of mesoscopic emitters as well as great simplifications in practical calculations....

Spontaneous regression of metastases from malignant melanoma: a case report

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kalialis, Louise V; Drzewiecki, Krzysztof T; Mohammadi, Mahin

2008-01-01

A case of a 61-year-old male with widespread metastatic melanoma is presented 5 years after complete spontaneous cure. Spontaneous regression occurred in cutaneous, pulmonary, hepatic and cerebral metastases. A review of the literature reveals seven cases of regression of cerebral metastases; thi...

Teaching spontaneous responses to a young child with Down syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Feeley, Kathleen; Jones, Emily

2008-10-01

Children with Down syndrome experience significant communication impairments, particularly in expressive language. Although receiving little attention in the literature, deficiencies in expressive language are likely to affect spontaneous communicative responses in children with Down syndrome. In this study, using a multiple baseline design across responses, we demonstrated the effectiveness of discrete trial instruction in establishing spontaneous responses in a preschooler with Down syndrome. Spontaneous responses generalised to a novel setting involving a novel person and novel materials. Implications for the use of behaviourally based interventions to address the social-communicative needs of children with Down syndrome are discussed.

Spontaneous breaking of the BRST symmetry in the ABJM theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Faizal, Mir; Upadhyay, Sudhaker

2014-01-01

In this paper, we will analyze the ghost condensation in the ABJM theory. We will perform our analysis in N=1 superspace. We show that in the Delbourgo–Jarvis–Baulieu–Thierry–Mieg gauge the spontaneous breaking of BRST symmetry can occur in the ABJM theory. This spontaneous breaking of BRST symmetry is caused by ghost–anti-ghost condensation. We will also show that in the ABJM theory, the ghost–anti-ghost condensates remain present in the modified abelian gauge. Thus, the spontaneous breaking of BRST symmetry in ABJM theory can even occur in the modified abelian gauge

Male Factors and socioeconomic indicators correlate with the risk of spontaneous abortion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Jørn; Basso, Olga; Christensen, Kaare

1999-01-01

and environmental factors by studying reproductive histories in population based cohorts. We based the study upon two cohorts. The 'abortion cohort' consisted of 55 259 women who had a hospitalised spontaneous abortion in Denmark between 1980 and 1992 and who had a subsequent non-terminated pregnancy. The 'birth...... the municipality of residence to a low risk area (based upon the geographical distribution of spontaneous abortions) reduced the risk of spontaneous abortion in both cohorts. A paternal effect on the recurrence risk of spontaneous abortion cannot be ruled out but environmental factors also play a role.......No less than 10% of clinically recognised pregnancies end as spontaneous abortions and the recurrence risk is high. Due to lack of data and appropriate study design only little is known about preventable causes of miscarriage. The aim of this study was to estimate the effect of paternal...

Technical Progress and Development Directions of Oceanic Spatial Information Datum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

BAO Jingyang

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This paper briefly analyzes the basic development and technical situation of oceanic spatial information datum, reviews the main processes of oceanic vertical datum and correlative oceanic tidal study, such as improvement and perfect methods of determining tidal station vertical datum, realizing form of vertical datum controlled by tidal station, effect on maintaining vertical datum by long-term tidal station, oceanic tidal model establishing, and also construction and transformation of tidal datum, and then forecasts the key development directions of oceanic spatial information datum on high-accuracy marine position service, vertical datum and the transferring model refinement and spatial datum application.

Spontaneous core-shell elemental distribution in In-rich InxGa1-xN nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Science.gov (United States)

Gómez-Gómez, M.; Garro, N.; Segura-Ruiz, J.; Martinez-Criado, G.; Cantarero, A.; Mengistu, H. T.; García-Cristóbal, A.; Murcia-Mascarós, S.; Denker, C.; Malindretos, J.; Rizzi, A.

2014-02-01

The elemental distribution of self-organized In-rich InxGa1-xN nanowires grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy has been investigated using three different techniques with spatial resolution on the nanoscale. Two-dimensional images and elemental profiles of single nanowires obtained by x-ray fluorescence and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, respectively, have revealed a radial gradient in the alloy composition of each individual nanowire. The spectral selectivity of resonant Raman scattering has been used to enhance the signal from very small volumes with different elemental composition within single nanowires. The combination of the three techniques has provided sufficient sensitivity and spatial resolution to prove the spontaneous formation of a core-shell nanowire and to quantify the thicknesses and alloy compositions of the core and shell regions. A theoretical model based on continuum elastic theory has been used to estimate the strain fields present in such inhomogeneous nanowires. These results suggest new strategies for achieving high quality non-polar heterostructures.

Computed tomography characteristics suggestive of spontaneous resolution of chronic subdural hematoma

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Horikoshi, Toru; Naganuma, Hirofumi; Fukasawa, Isao; Uchida, Mikito; Nukui, Hideaki [Yamanashi Medical Univ., Tamaho (Japan)

1998-09-01

The clinical and radiological characteristics of self-resolving hematoma were assessed retrospectively in a series of patients with chronic subdural hematomas (SDHs) treated over a recent 6-year period in a local hospital. Spontaneous resolution was observed in five of 27 hematomas occurring in four of 23 patients. Clinical and radiological findings of the four cases were compared to those of the remaining 19 cases. All spontaneously resolving SDHs were asymptomatic or only caused mild transient headache, and disappeared within 4 to 9 months after head injury. All spontaneously resolving SDHs were located in the frontal region, and maximum thickness and midline displacement were less than those in the other 19 patients who were symptomatic and underwent surgery. Computed tomography demonstrated a low density line between the hematoma and the cerebral cortex, indicative of remaining cerebrospinal fluid space in four of five hematomas. Spontaneously resolving SDH is more frequent than formerly expected. Asymptomatic SDHs localized in the frontal region with small mass signs can be expected to disappear spontaneously without deterioration. (author)

Spontaneous Vesicle Fusion Is Differentially Regulated at Cholinergic and GABAergic Synapses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haowen Liu

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The locomotion of C. elegans is balanced by excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitter release at neuromuscular junctions. However, the molecular mechanisms that maintain the balance of synaptic transmission remain enigmatic. Here, we investigated the function of voltage-gated Ca2+ channels in triggering spontaneous release at cholinergic and GABAergic synapses. Recordings of the miniature excitatory/inhibitory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs and mIPSCs, respectively showed that UNC-2/CaV2 and EGL-19/CaV1 channels are the two major triggers for spontaneous release. Notably, however, Ca2+-independent spontaneous release was observed at GABAergic but not cholinergic synapses. Functional screening led to the identification of hypomorphic unc-64/Syntaxin-1A and snb-1/VAMP2 mutants in which mEPSCs are severely impaired, whereas mIPSCs remain unaltered, indicating differential regulation of these currents at cholinergic and GABAergic synapses. Moreover, Ca2+-independent spontaneous GABA release was nearly abolished in the hypomorphic unc-64 and snb-1 mutants, suggesting distinct mechanisms for Ca2+-dependent and Ca2+-independent spontaneous release.

Spatially structured oscillations in a two-dimensional excitatory neuronal network with synaptic depression

KAUST Repository

Kilpatrick, Zachary P.

2009-10-29

We study the spatiotemporal dynamics of a two-dimensional excitatory neuronal network with synaptic depression. Coupling between populations of neurons is taken to be nonlocal, while depression is taken to be local and presynaptic. We show that the network supports a wide range of spatially structured oscillations, which are suggestive of phenomena seen in cortical slice experiments and in vivo. The particular form of the oscillations depends on initial conditions and the level of background noise. Given an initial, spatially localized stimulus, activity evolves to a spatially localized oscillating core that periodically emits target waves. Low levels of noise can spontaneously generate several pockets of oscillatory activity that interact via their target patterns. Periodic activity in space can also organize into spiral waves, provided that there is some source of rotational symmetry breaking due to external stimuli or noise. In the high gain limit, no oscillatory behavior exists, but a transient stimulus can lead to a single, outward propagating target wave. © Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009.

Spatially structured oscillations in a two-dimensional excitatory neuronal network with synaptic depression

KAUST Repository

Kilpatrick, Zachary P.; Bressloff, Paul C.

2009-01-01

We study the spatiotemporal dynamics of a two-dimensional excitatory neuronal network with synaptic depression. Coupling between populations of neurons is taken to be nonlocal, while depression is taken to be local and presynaptic. We show that the network supports a wide range of spatially structured oscillations, which are suggestive of phenomena seen in cortical slice experiments and in vivo. The particular form of the oscillations depends on initial conditions and the level of background noise. Given an initial, spatially localized stimulus, activity evolves to a spatially localized oscillating core that periodically emits target waves. Low levels of noise can spontaneously generate several pockets of oscillatory activity that interact via their target patterns. Periodic activity in space can also organize into spiral waves, provided that there is some source of rotational symmetry breaking due to external stimuli or noise. In the high gain limit, no oscillatory behavior exists, but a transient stimulus can lead to a single, outward propagating target wave. © Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009.

Spontaneous neonatal gastrointestinal perforation: surgical or ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... cases of spontaneous gastrointestinal perforation in neonates at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City. The perinatal stress factors were caesarian delivery, prematurity and fetal distress due to prolonged obstructed labour.

Silicosis with bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fotedar Sanjay

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Presentation with simultaneous bilateral pneumothorax is uncommon and usually in the context of secondary spontaneous pneumothorax.The association of pneumothorax and silicosis is infrequent and most cases are unilateral. Bilateral pneumothorax in silicosis is very rare with just a few reports in medical literature.

Spontaneous decoherence of coupled harmonic oscillators confined in a ring

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, ZhiRui; Zhang, ZhenWei; Xu, DaZhi; Zhao, Nan; Sun, ChangPu

2018-04-01

We study the spontaneous decoherence of coupled harmonic oscillators confined in a ring container, where the nearest-neighbor harmonic potentials are taken into consideration. Without any external symmetry-breaking field or surrounding environment, the quantum superposition state prepared in the relative degrees of freedom gradually loses its quantum coherence spontaneously. This spontaneous decoherence is interpreted by the gauge couplings between the center-of-mass and the relative degrees of freedoms, which actually originate from the symmetries of the ring geometry and the corresponding nontrivial boundary conditions. In particular, such spontaneous decoherence does not occur at all at the thermodynamic limit because the nontrivial boundary conditions become the trivial Born-von Karman boundary conditions when the perimeter of the ring container tends to infinity. Our investigation shows that a thermal macroscopic object with certain symmetries has a chance for its quantum properties to degrade even without applying an external symmetry-breaking field or surrounding environment.

Differentiating the Causes of Spontaneous Rib Fracture After Breast Cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Susan R

2016-12-01

Spontaneous rib fracture after treatment for primary breast cancer is not uncommon. Although metastatic disease accounts for about 30% of spontaneous rib fractures and should constitute the first line of diagnostic investigation, other possible contributors include primary osteoporosis or secondary osteoporosis resulting from cancer treatments. Chemotherapy-induced menopause, aromatase inhibitors, radiation therapy, and long-term bisphosphonate use can all contribute to bone fragility, including spontaneous rib fractures in the latter 3. Drawing on recent breast cancer practice guidelines as well as population-based studies of fracture risk for women with a history of breast cancer and systematic reviews, this Perspective will provide an update on recent developments in understanding how to differentiate the possible reasons for non-traumatic rib fracture in women treated for breast cancer. In addition to describing the various possible causes of spontaneous rib fracture, the recommended medical and imaging procedures for differentiating among the potential causes will be presented. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Observation of Spontaneous Expressive Language (OSEL): A New Measure for Spontaneous and Expressive Language of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Other Communication Disorders

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, So Hyun; Junker, Dörte; Lord, Catherine

2014-01-01

A new language measure, the Observation of Spontaneous Expressive Language (OSEL), is intended to document spontaneous use of syntax, pragmatics, and semantics in 2-12-year-old children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other communication disorders with expressive language levels comparable to typical 2-5 year olds. Because the purpose of…

Deterministic Generation of Quantum State Transfer Between Spatially Separated Single Molecule Magnets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song Peijun; Lue Xinyou; Huang Pei; Hao Xiangying; Yang Xiaoxue

2010-01-01

We propose a new scheme for realizing deterministic quantum state transfer (QST) between two spatially separated single molecule magnets (SMMs) with the framework of cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED). In the present scheme, two SMMs are trapped in two spatially separated optical cavities coupled by an optical fiber. Through strictly numerically simulating, we demonstrate that our scheme is robust with respect to the SMMs' spontaneous decay and fiber loss under the conditions of dispersive SMMs-field interaction and strong coupling of cavity fiber. In addition, we also discuss the influence of photon leakage out of cavities and show that our proposal is good enough to demonstrate the generation of QST with high fidelity utilizing the current experimental technology. The present investigation provides research opportunities for realizing QST between solid-state qubits and may result in a substantial impact on the progress of solid-state-based quantum communications network. (general)

Management of intractable spontaneous epistaxis

Science.gov (United States)

Rudmik, Luke

2012-01-01

Background: Epistaxis is a common otolaryngology emergency and is often controlled with first-line interventions such as cautery, hemostatic agents, or anterior nasal packing. A subset of patients will continue to bleed and require more aggressive therapy. Methods: Intractable spontaneous epistaxis was traditionally managed with posterior nasal packing and prolonged hospital admission. In an effort to reduce patient morbidity and shorten hospital stay, surgical and endovascular techniques have gained popularity. A literature review was conducted. Results: Transnasal endoscopic sphenopalatine artery ligation and arterial embolization provide excellent control rates but the decision to choose one over the other can be challenging. The role of transnasal endoscopic anterior ethmoid artery ligation is unclear but may be considered in certain cases when bleeding localizes to the ethmoid region. Conclusion: This article will focus on the management of intractable spontaneous epistaxis and discuss the role of endoscopic arterial ligation and embolization as it pertains to this challenging clinical scenario. PMID:22391084

Spontaneous symmetry breaking and response functions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beraudo, A.; De Pace, A.; Martini, M.; Molinari, A.

2005-01-01

We study the quantum phase transition occurring in an infinite homogeneous system of spin 1/2 fermions in a non-relativistic context. As an example we consider neutrons interacting through a simple spin-spin Heisenberg force. The two critical values of the coupling strength-signaling the onset into the system of a finite magnetization and of the total magnetization, respectively-are found and their dependence upon the range of the interaction is explored. The spin response function of the system in the region where the spin-rotational symmetry is spontaneously broken is also studied. For a ferromagnetic interaction the spin response along the direction of the spontaneous magnetization occurs in the particle-hole continuum and displays, for not too large momentum transfers, two distinct peaks. The response along the direction orthogonal to the spontaneous magnetization displays instead, beyond a softened and depleted particle-hole continuum, a collective mode to be identified with a Goldstone boson of type II. Notably, the random phase approximation on a Hartree-Fock basis accounts for it, in particular for its quadratic-close to the origin-dispersion relation. It is shown that the Goldstone boson contributes to the saturation of the energy-weighted sum rule for ∼25% when the system becomes fully magnetized (that is in correspondence of the upper critical value of the interaction strength) and continues to grow as the interaction strength increases

Orofacial neuropathic pain reduces spontaneous burrowing behavior in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Deseure, K; Hans, G

2018-07-01

It was recently reported that spontaneous burrowing behavior is decreased after tibial nerve transection, spinal nerve transection and partial sciatic nerve ligation. It was proposed that spontaneous burrowing could be used as a measure of the impact of neuropathic pain after peripheral nerve injury. It has remained unclear whether the reduction in burrowing behavior is caused directly by pain or hypersensitivity in the affected limbs, making it more difficult to perform burrowing, or by a pain induced decrease in the general wellbeing, thus reducing the motivation to burrow. We studied burrowing behavior after infraorbital nerve injury, a model of orofacial neuropathic pain that does not affect the limbs. Burrowing behavior was significantly reduced after infraorbital nerve injury. Isolated face grooming and responsiveness to mechanical von Frey stimulation of the infraorbital nerve territory were significantly increased after infraorbital nerve injury, indicative, respectively, of spontaneous pain and mechanical allodynia. It is concluded that spontaneous burrowing may provide a measure of the global impact of pain on the animal's wellbeing after peripheral nerve injury and incorporation of this behavioral assay in preclinical drug testing may improve the predictive validity of currently used pain models. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Spontaneous Ad Hoc Network to Share WWW Access

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lloret Jaime

2010-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we propose a secure spontaneous ad-hoc network, based on direct peer-to-peer interaction, to grant a quick, easy, and secure access to the users to surf the Web. The paper shows the description of our proposal, the procedure of the nodes involved in the system, the security algorithms implemented, and the designed messages. We have taken into account the security and its performance. Although some people have defined and described the main features of spontaneous ad-hoc networks, nobody has published any design and simulation until today. Spontaneous networking will enable a more natural form of wireless computing when people physically meet in the real world. We also validate the success of our proposal through several simulations and comparisons with a regular architecture, taking into account the optimization of the resources of the devices. Finally, we compare our proposal with other caching techniques published in the related literature. The proposal has been developed with the main objective of improving the communication and integration between different study centers of low-resource communities. That is, it lets communicate spontaneous networks, which are working collaboratively and which have been created on different physical places.

Spontaneous high piezoelectricity in poly(vinylidene fluoride) nanoribbons produced by iterative thermal size reduction technique.

Science.gov (United States)

Kanik, Mehmet; Aktas, Ozan; Sen, Huseyin Sener; Durgun, Engin; Bayindir, Mehmet

2014-09-23

We produced kilometer-long, endlessly parallel, spontaneously piezoelectric and thermally stable poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) micro- and nanoribbons using iterative size reduction technique based on thermal fiber drawing. Because of high stress and temperature used in thermal drawing process, we obtained spontaneously polar γ phase PVDF micro- and nanoribbons without electrical poling process. On the basis of X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, we observed that PVDF micro- and nanoribbons are thermally stable and conserve the polar γ phase even after being exposed to heat treatment above the melting point of PVDF. Phase transition mechanism is investigated and explained using ab initio calculations. We measured an average effective piezoelectric constant as -58.5 pm/V from a single PVDF nanoribbon using a piezo evaluation system along with an atomic force microscope. PVDF nanoribbons are promising structures for constructing devices such as highly efficient energy generators, large area pressure sensors, artificial muscle and skin, due to the unique geometry and extended lengths, high polar phase content, high thermal stability and high piezoelectric coefficient. We demonstrated two proof of principle devices for energy harvesting and sensing applications with a 60 V open circuit peak voltage and 10 μA peak short-circuit current output.

Spontaneous esophageal-pleural fistula

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sameer Vyas

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Spontaneous esophageal-pleural fistula (EPF is a rare entity. We describe a case in a middle-aged female who presented with severe retrosternal chest pain and shortness of breadth. Chest computed tomography showed right EPF and hydropneumothorax. She was managed conservatively keeping the chest tube drainage and performing feeding jejunostomy. A brief review of the imaging finding and management of EPF is discussed.

Radionuclide cisternographic findings in patients with spontaneous intracranial hypotension

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jung, Dong Jin; Kim, Jae Seung; Ryu, Jin Sook; Shin, Jung Woo; Im, Joo Hyuk; Lee, Myoung Chong; Jung, Sung Joo; Moon, Dae Hyuk; Lee, Hee Kyung

1998-01-01

Radionuclide cisternography may be helpful in understanding pathophysiology of postural headache and low CSF pressure in patients with spontaneous intracranial hypotension. The purpose of this study was to characterize radionuclide cisternogrpahic findings of spontaneous intracranial hypotension. The study population consists of 15 patients with spontaneous intracranial hypotension. Diagnosis was based on their clinical symptoms and results of lumbar puncture. All patients underwent radionuclide cisternography following injection of 111 to 222 MBq of Tc-99m DTPA into the lumbar subarachnoid space. Sequential images were obtained between 1/2 hour and 24 hour after the injection of Tc-99m DTPA. Radioactivity of the bladder, soft tissue uptake, migration of radionuclide in the subarachnoid space, and extradural leakage of radionuclide were evaluated according to the scan time. Radionuclide cisternogram showed delayed migration of radionuclide into the cerebral convexity (14/15), increased soft tissue uptake (11/15), and early visualization of bladder activity at 30 min (6/10) and 2 hr (13/13). Cisternography also demonstrated leakage site of CSF in 4 cases and 2 of these were depicted at 30min. Epidural blood patch was done in 11 patients and headache was improved in all cases. The characteristics findings of spontaneous intracranial hypotension were delayed migration of radionuclide and early visualization of the soft tissue and bladder activity. These scintigraphic findings suggest that CSF leakage rather than increased CSF absorption or decreased production may be the main pathophysiology of spontaneous intracranial hypotension. Early and multiple imaging including the bladder and soft tissue is required to observe the entire dynamics of radionuclide migration

[Treatment of the first episode of spontaneous pneumothorax].

Science.gov (United States)

Moubachir, H; Zaghba, N; Benjelloun, H; Bakhatar, A; Yassine, N

2016-11-01

The management of a first episode of spontaneous pneumothorax is controversial and the best technique to be used as an initial intervention, aspiration or intercostal drainage, is still debated. We present a retrospective case series during two and a half consecutive years describing the immediate management of spontaneous pneumothoraces, comparing aspiration versus thoracic drainage. One hundred and thirty-three clinical files from patients with spontaneous pneumothoraces were analyzed (17 primary and 116 secondary). The pneumothoraces were of varying size and different etiologies. Patients were initially treated with simple aspiration in 68 cases, with an immediate success rate of 37.5%, intercostal drainage in 49 cases, and by rest alone in 16 cases. In case of secondary pneumothorax, aspiration appeared to offer advantages as an initial strategy over intercostal drainage in terms of hospital stay (11 versus 22 days), and with significant effectiveness (37.5%). Copyright © 2016 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Spontaneous expulsive suprachoroidal hemorrhage caused by decompensated liver disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Krishnagopal Srikanth

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Expulsive suprachoroidal hemorrhage can be surgical or spontaneous. Spontaneous expulsive suprachoroidal hemorrhage (SESCH is a rare entity. Most of the reported cases of SESCH were caused by a combination of corneal pathology and glaucoma. We are reporting a rare presentation of SESCH with no pre-existing glaucoma or corneal pathology and caused by massive intra- and peri-ocular hemorrhage due to decompensated liver disease.

Amplified spontaneous emission and laser emission from a high optical-gain medium of dye-doped dendrimer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yokoyama, Shiyoshi; Nakahama, Tatsuo; Mashiko, Shinro

2005-01-01

We measured the amplified spontaneous emission and laser emission from high-gain media of laser-dye encapsulated dendrimers. A highly branched poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM-OH) dendrimer formed a guest-host complex with a conventional laser-dye (DCM), resulting in a high optical-gain. Of particular note was the appearance of a laser threshold, above which a super-narrowed laser spectrum was observed, although laser feedback was caused without any mirror cavity devices. The optical feedback was attributed to spatial confinement of the light due to gain guiding under optical excitation. The laser spectrum clearly indicated a resonant laser-mode with a spectrum linewidth of less than 0.1 nm. This order of spectrum narrowing is comparable to that seen in the laser emission from ordinary laser devices

Spontaneous emission of the non-Wiener type

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Basharov, A. M.

2011-01-01

The spontaneous emission of a quantum particle and superradiation of an ensemble of identical quantum particles in a vacuum electromagnetic field with zero photon density are examined under the conditions of significant Stark particle and field interaction. New fundamental effects are established: suppression of spontaneous emission by the Stark interaction, an additional “decay” shift in energy of the decaying level as a consequence of Stark interaction unrelated to the Lamb and Stark level shifts, excitation conservation phenomena in a sufficiently dense ensemble of identical particles and suppression of superradiaton in the decay of an ensemble of excited quantum particles of a certain density. The main equations describing the emission processes under conditions of significant Stark interaction are obtained in the effective Hamiltonian representation of quantum stochastic differential equations. It is proved that the Stark interaction between a single quantum particle and a broadband electromagnetic field is represented as a quantum Poisson process and the stochastic differential equations are of the non-Wiener (generalized Langevin) type. From the examined case of spontaneous emission of a quantum particle, the main rules are formulated for studying open systems in the effective Hamiltonian representation.

Spontaneously broken realization of supersymmetry in supergravity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferrara, S.; Trieste Univ.

1979-01-01

It is shown that if supersymmetry is relevant for the physical world it must be broken either spontaneously or explicitly. Renormalizability and simplicity are in favor of a spontaneous realization of the symmetry breaking. When supersymmetry is spontaneously broken the spinorial analogue of the Goldstone phenomenon occurs, namely massless particles arise in the spectrum of the theory which carry the same quantum numbers of the broken generators Qsup(i) they are N spin 1/2 Goldstone fermions (goldstinos). These particles may be eaten by spin 3/2 gauge particles (gravitinos) when supersymmetry is gauged. It is shown that both the Higgs effect and super Higgs effect have taken place. 8 of the spin 1/2 particles have been eaten by the spin 3/2 particles and 24 of 70 scalars have been eaten by the spin 3/2 particles and 24 of 70 scalars have been eaten by 24 of the 28 vector particles to provide them with mass. The conclusion is that the number of mass relations is, in general, equal to r-1, where r is the rank of the algebra which generates the spectrum

Spontaneous Development of Moral Concepts

Science.gov (United States)

Siegal, M.

1975-01-01

Moral competence is more difficult to attain than scientific competence. Since language comprehension plays a central role in conceptual development, and moral language is difficult to learn, there is a common deficiency in moral conceptual development. This suggests a theory of non-spontaneous solutions to moral problems. (Author/MS)

Prediction of Spontaneous Preterm Birth

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijkstra, Karolien

2002-01-01

Preterm birth is a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. It is a major goal in obstetrics to lower the incidence of spontaneous preterm birth (SPB) and related neonatal morbidity and mortality. One of the principal objectives is to discover early markers that would allow us to identify

Spontaneous infarction of benign breast lesion during pregnancy: Ultrasonographic and pathologic findings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Jin Young; Kim, Kyu Soon; Kim, Ju Hun [Eulji University Hospital, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Yun Hak [Dept. of Radiology, Health Care Center, Pohang (Korea, Republic of)

2015-10-15

The spontaneous infarction of benign breast lesions is a rare entity and hence is not usually considered in the differential diagnosis during radiologic or clinical examination. There have been a few published cases of infarction during pregnancy and lactation. In this study we report the ultrasonographic and pathologic features of a spontaneous infarction of a lactating adenoma with acute mastitis and abscess and a spontaneously infarcted fibroadenoma.

Spontaneous infarction of benign breast lesion during pregnancy: Ultrasonographic and pathologic findings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Jin Young; Kim, Kyu Soon; Kim, Ju Hun; Lee, Yun Hak

2015-01-01

The spontaneous infarction of benign breast lesions is a rare entity and hence is not usually considered in the differential diagnosis during radiologic or clinical examination. There have been a few published cases of infarction during pregnancy and lactation. In this study we report the ultrasonographic and pathologic features of a spontaneous infarction of a lactating adenoma with acute mastitis and abscess and a spontaneously infarcted fibroadenoma

Dynamics of entanglement between two atomic samples with spontaneous scattering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Di Lisi, Antonio; De Siena, Silvio; Illuminati, Fabrizio

2004-01-01

We investigate the effects of spontaneous scattering on the evolution of entanglement of two atomic samples, probed by phase-shift measurements on optical beams interacting with both samples. We develop a formalism of conditional quantum evolutions and present a wave function analysis implemented in numerical simulations of the state vector dynamics. This method allows us to track the evolution of entanglement and to compare it with the predictions obtained when spontaneous scattering is neglected. We provide numerical evidence that the interferometric scheme to entangle atomic samples is only marginally affected by the presence of spontaneous scattering and should thus be robust even in more realistic situations

Spontaneous subdural hematoma associated to Duret hemorrhage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William Alves Martins, MD

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Subdural hematoma (SH is a neurosurgical emergency, usually caused by head trauma. Non-traumatic causes include aneurysm or arterial–venous malformation rupture, coagulopathy and others. We report the case of a 66 year-old man who developed apparently unprovoked signs of increased intracranial pressure. Brain computed tomography scan showed an acute spontaneous SH, surgically treated. Throughout surgery, a ruptured cortical artery with intensive bleeding appeared and was cauterized. After surgery, patient remained comatose and a new CT demonstrated Duret hemorrhage at the brainstem. Acute spontaneous SH of arterial origin is rare and highly lethal, in which a good prognosis relies on early diagnosis and treatment.

Bradycardia after Tube Thoracostomy for Spontaneous Pneumothorax

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yomi Fashola

2018-01-01

Full Text Available We present the case of an elderly patient who became bradycardic after chest tube insertion for spontaneous pneumothorax. Arrhythmia is a rare complication of tube thoracostomy. Unlike other reported cases of chest tube induced arrhythmias, the bradycardia in our patient responded to resuscitative measures without removal or repositioning of the tube. Our patient, who had COPD, presented with shortness of breath due to spontaneous pneumothorax. Moments after tube insertion, patient developed severe bradycardia that responded to Atropine. In patients requiring chest tube insertion, it is important to be prepared to provide cardiopulmonary resuscitative therapy in case the patient develops a life-threatening arrhythmia.

Detection of spontaneous combustion underground by measuring CO levels

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boutonnat, M; Jeger, M

1980-01-01

It is essential to detect spontaneous combustion as soon as it occurs so as to prevent such outbreaks from becoming a serious conflagration. At present CO detection is the basic method used. States the need for setting up additional measuring points (in air returns from working palces and in return airways in general). Where possible measuring instruments should be placed near zones where there is a particularly high risk of spontaneous combustion. Measurement should be undertaken on a continuous basis or as frequently as possible and must be capable of distinguishing between extraneous CO (shotfiring and diesel motors) and CO emanating from outbreaks of spontaneous combustion. The article describes two instruments developed by CERCHAR: the remote-control CO monitors type C and CSD. Both devices make use of a UNOR analyser.

Safety of Oral Clemastine – Analysis of Data from Spontaneous ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Purpose: To analyse the safety of oral clemastine marketed in Poland based on spontaneous adverse event reporting system. Methods: We analyzed sales volume and data obtained from the monitoring of spontaneous reports on the adverse effects of Clemastinum Hasco tablets (1.0 mg) and Clemastinum Hasco syrup (0.1 ...

Simulation of a flow spontaneously condensed moist steam in Laval nozzles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Avetisyan, A.R.; Alipchenkov, V.M.; Zajchik, L.I.

2002-01-01

The method for simulating the evolution of the drops distribution by size in the course of commonly proceeding processes of nucleation (spontaneous condensation), heterogeneous condensation) evaporation and coagulation is proposed. The results of the analysis of the initial moisture effect on the steam spontaneous condensation in the transonic nozzles are presented. The availability of the minima in the output moisture dependences on the drops initial moisture and size is the most interesting result of the initial moisture effect on the spontaneous condensation in the Laval nozzles [ru

Endobronchial angiofibroma in the aberrant tracheal bronchus presenting as spontaneous pneumomediastinum.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Kyung Soo; Moon, Young Kyu; Jeon, Hyun Woo; Park, Chan Beom; Ahn, Myeong Im; Lee, Kyo Young; Park, Jae Kil

2015-07-22

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum is a self-limiting benign disease but abnormal bronchial lesions can be rarely found incidentally, and in selected cases will require surgical resection. A 38-year-old man presented with a spontaneous pneumomediastinum. Chest computed tomography revealed an incidental linear endobronchial tumour in the aberrant tracheal bronchus. The tumour was removed surgically and diagnosed with a rare benign tumour of endobronchial angiofibroma. We report a rare case of endobronchial angiofibroma in the aberrant tracheal bronchus which was detected during the evaluation of a spontaneous pneumomediastinum.

Multistable Perception in Older Adults: Constructing a Whole from Fragments.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Khushi; Reed, Maureen

2016-03-22

Visual perception is constructive in nature; that is, a coherent whole is generated from ambiguous fragments that are encountered in dynamic visual scenes. Creating this coherent whole from fragmented sensory inputs requires one to detect, identify, distinguish and organize sensory input. The organization of fragments into a coherent whole is facilitated by the continuous interactions between lower level sensory inputs and higher order processes. However, age-related declines are found in both neural structures and cognitive processes (e.g., attention and inhibition). The impact of these declines on the constructive nature of visual processing was the focus of this study. Here we asked younger adults, young-old (65-79 years), and old-old adults (80+ years) to view a multistable figure (i.e., Necker cube) under four conditions (free, priming, volition, and adaptation) and report, via a button press, when percepts spontaneously changed. The oldest-olds, unlike young-olds and younger adults, were influenced by priming, had less visual stability during volition and showed less ability to adapt to multistable stimuli. These results suggest that the ability to construct a coherent whole from fragments declines with age. More specifically, vision is constructed differently in the old-olds, which might influence environmental interpretations and navigational abilities in this age group.

Multistable Perception in Older Adults: Constructing a Whole from Fragments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khushi Patel

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Visual perception is constructive in nature; that is, a coherent whole is generated from ambiguous fragments that are encountered in dynamic visual scenes. Creating this coherent whole from fragmented sensory inputs requires one to detect, identify, distinguish and organize sensory input. The organization of fragments into a coherent whole is facilitated by the continuous interactions between lower level sensory inputs and higher order processes. However, age-related declines are found in both neural structures and cognitive processes (e.g., attention and inhibition. The impact of these declines on the constructive nature of visual processing was the focus of this study. Here we asked younger adults, young-old (65–79 years, and old-old adults (80+ years to view a multistable figure (i.e., Necker cube under four conditions (free, priming, volition, and adaptation and report, via a button press, when percepts spontaneously changed. The oldest-olds, unlike young-olds and younger adults, were influenced by priming, had less visual stability during volition and showed less ability to adapt to multistable stimuli. These results suggest that the ability to construct a coherent whole from fragments declines with age. More specifically, vision is constructed differently in the old-olds, which might influence environmental interpretations and navigational abilities in this age group.

4D Applications of GIS in Construction Management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Chaitanya Kumar

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Construction industries broadly involve different set of construction activities which are to be executed as per schedule and the major software used for scheduling is PRIMAVERA and Microsoft Project (MSP. But the software still lacks a feature of providing spatial aspects of information in construction schedule. Recently, advanced technology like 4D GIS plays a major role in overcoming the limitation of the software. 4D GIS technology includes integration of 2D drawings from AutoCAD and schedules prepared in PRIMAVERA software. In the present study, a multistair residential building has been selected. ARCMAP 10.2 is used for interlinking of schedules as well as drawings and ARCSCENE has been used for developing 4D view. This linkage between scheduled activities and respective drawings in GIS helps in identifying construction sequences and also in detecting logical errors that occur in project schedules. The developed 4D view provides better visualization of construction progress of a project.

Spontaneous pneumothorax after intensive chemotherapy in endometrial cancer: A rare complication

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jen-Ruei Chen

2014-06-01

Conclusion: Rapid shrinkage of a pulmonary space-occupying tumor sometimes causes rare but life-threatening spontaneous pneumothoraces. We report the first case of a spontaneous pneumothorax after using paclitaxel plus carboplatin in the treatment of endometrial cancer.

Perturbation analysis of spontaneous action potential initiation by stochastic ion channels

KAUST Repository

Keener, James P.; Newby, Jay M.

2011-01-01

A stochastic interpretation of spontaneous action potential initiation is developed for the Morris-Lecar equations. Initiation of a spontaneous action potential can be interpreted as the escape from one of the wells of a double well potential

GSHR-Tree: a spatial index tree based on dynamic spatial slot and hash table in grid environments

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Zhanlong; Wu, Xin-cai; Wu, Liang

2008-12-01

Computation Grids enable the coordinated sharing of large-scale distributed heterogeneous computing resources that can be used to solve computationally intensive problems in science, engineering, and commerce. Grid spatial applications are made possible by high-speed networks and a new generation of Grid middleware that resides between networks and traditional GIS applications. The integration of the multi-sources and heterogeneous spatial information and the management of the distributed spatial resources and the sharing and cooperative of the spatial data and Grid services are the key problems to resolve in the development of the Grid GIS. The performance of the spatial index mechanism is the key technology of the Grid GIS and spatial database affects the holistic performance of the GIS in Grid Environments. In order to improve the efficiency of parallel processing of a spatial mass data under the distributed parallel computing grid environment, this paper presents a new grid slot hash parallel spatial index GSHR-Tree structure established in the parallel spatial indexing mechanism. Based on the hash table and dynamic spatial slot, this paper has improved the structure of the classical parallel R tree index. The GSHR-Tree index makes full use of the good qualities of R-Tree and hash data structure. This paper has constructed a new parallel spatial index that can meet the needs of parallel grid computing about the magnanimous spatial data in the distributed network. This arithmetic splits space in to multi-slots by multiplying and reverting and maps these slots to sites in distributed and parallel system. Each sites constructs the spatial objects in its spatial slot into an R tree. On the basis of this tree structure, the index data was distributed among multiple nodes in the grid networks by using large node R-tree method. The unbalance during process can be quickly adjusted by means of a dynamical adjusting algorithm. This tree structure has considered the

Which nerve conduction parameters can predict spontaneous electromyographic activity in carpal tunnel syndrome?

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Chia-Wei; Lee, Wei-Ju; Liao, Yi-Chu; Chang, Ming-Hong

2013-11-01

We investigate electrodiagnostic markers to determine which parameters are the best predictors of spontaneous electromyographic (EMG) activity in carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). We enrolled 229 patients with clinically proven and nerve conduction study (NCS)-proven CTS, as well as 100 normal control subjects. All subjects were evaluated using electrodiagnostic techniques, including median distal sensory latencies (DSLs), sensory nerve action potentials (SNAPs), distal motor latencies (DMLs), compound muscle action potentials (CMAPs), forearm median nerve conduction velocities (FMCVs) and wrist-palm motor conduction velocities (W-P MCVs). All CTS patients underwent EMG examination of the abductor pollicis brevis (APB) muscle, and the presence or absence of spontaneous EMG activities was recorded. Normal limits were determined by calculating the means ± 2 standard deviations from the control data. Associations between parameters from the NCS and EMG findings were investigated. In patients with clinically diagnosed CTS, abnormal median CMAP amplitudes were the best predictors of spontaneous activity during EMG examination (p95% (positive predictive rate >95%). If the median CMAP amplitude was higher than the normal limit (>4.9 mV), the rate of no spontaneous EMG activity was >94% (negative predictive rate >94%). An abnormal SNAP amplitude was the second best predictor of spontaneous EMG activity (p<0.001; OR 4.13; 95% CI 2.16-7.90), and an abnormal FMCV was the third best predictor (p=0.01; OR 2.10; 95% CI 1.20-3.67). No other nerve conduction parameters had significant power to predict spontaneous activity upon EMG examination. The CMAP amplitudes of the APB are the most powerful predictors of the occurrence of spontaneous EMG activity. Low CMAP amplitudes are strongly associated with spontaneous activity, whereas high CMAP amplitude are less associated with spontaneous activity, implying that needle EMG examination should be recommended for the detection of

Construction of 3D Metallic Nanostructures on an Arbitrarily Shaped Substrate.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Fei; Li, Jingning; Yu, Fangfang; Zhao, Di; Wang, Fan; Chen, Yanbin; Peng, Ru-Wen; Wang, Mu

2016-09-01

Constructing conductive/magnetic nanowire arrays with 3D features by electrodeposition remains challenging. An unprecedented fabrication approach that allows to construct metallic (cobalt) nanowires on an arbitrarily shaped surface is reported. The spatial separation of nanowires varies from 70 to 3000 nm and the line width changes from 50 to 250 nm depending on growth conditions. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Inverse problem for in vivo NMR spatial localization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hasenfeld, A.C.

1985-11-01

The basic physical problem of NMR spatial localization is considered. To study diseased sites, one must solve the problem of adequately localizing the NMR signal. We formulate this as an inverse problem. As the NMR Bloch equations determine the motion of nuclear spins in applied magnetic fields, a theoretical study is undertaken to answer the question of how to design magnetic field configurations to achieve these localized excited spin populations. Because of physical constraints in the production of the relevant radiofrequency fields, the problem factors into a temporal one and a spatial one. We formulate the temporal problem as a nonlinear transformation, called the Bloch Transform, from the rf input to the magnetization response. In trying to invert this transformation, both linear (for the Fourier Transform) and nonlinear (for the Bloch Transform) modes of radiofrequency excitation are constructed. The spatial problem is essentially a statics problem for the Maxwell equations of electromagnetism, as the wavelengths of the radiation considered are on the order of ten meters, and so propagation effects are negligible. In the general case, analytic solutions are unavailable, and so the methods of computer simulation are used to map the rf field spatial profiles. Numerical experiments are also performed to verify the theoretical analysis, and experimental confirmation of the theory is carried out on the 0.5 Tesla IBM/Oxford Imaging Spectrometer at the LBL NMR Medical Imaging Facility. While no explicit inverse is constructed to ''solve'' this problem, the combined theoretical/numerical analysis is validated experimentally, justifying the approximations made. 56 refs., 31 figs

Inverse problem for in vivo NMR spatial localization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hasenfeld, A.C.

1985-11-01

The basic physical problem of NMR spatial localization is considered. To study diseased sites, one must solve the problem of adequately localizing the NMR signal. We formulate this as an inverse problem. As the NMR Bloch equations determine the motion of nuclear spins in applied magnetic fields, a theoretical study is undertaken to answer the question of how to design magnetic field configurations to achieve these localized excited spin populations. Because of physical constraints in the production of the relevant radiofrequency fields, the problem factors into a temporal one and a spatial one. We formulate the temporal problem as a nonlinear transformation, called the Bloch Transform, from the rf input to the magnetization response. In trying to invert this transformation, both linear (for the Fourier Transform) and nonlinear (for the Bloch Transform) modes of radiofrequency excitation are constructed. The spatial problem is essentially a statics problem for the Maxwell equations of electromagnetism, as the wavelengths of the radiation considered are on the order of ten meters, and so propagation effects are negligible. In the general case, analytic solutions are unavailable, and so the methods of computer simulation are used to map the rf field spatial profiles. Numerical experiments are also performed to verify the theoretical analysis, and experimental confirmation of the theory is carried out on the 0.5 Tesla IBM/Oxford Imaging Spectrometer at the LBL NMR Medical Imaging Facility. While no explicit inverse is constructed to ''solve'' this problem, the combined theoretical/numerical analysis is validated experimentally, justifying the approximations made. 56 refs., 31 figs.

Urbanisation and 3d Spatial - a Geometric Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Duncan, E. E.; Rahman, A. Abdul

2013-09-01

Urbanisation creates immense competition for space, this may be attributed to an increase in population owing to domestic and external tourism. Most cities are constantly exploring all avenues in maximising its limited space. Hence, urban or city authorities need to plan, expand and use such three dimensional (3D) space above, on and below the city space. Thus, difficulties in property ownership and the geometric representation of the 3D city space is a major challenge. This research, investigates the concept of representing a geometric topological 3D spatial model capable of representing 3D volume parcels for man-made constructions above and below the 3D surface volume parcel. A review of spatial data models suggests that the 3D TIN (TEN) model is significant and can be used as a unified model. The concepts, logical and physical models of 3D TIN for 3D volumes using tetrahedrons as the base geometry is presented and implemented to show man-made constructions above and below the surface parcel within a user friendly graphical interface. Concepts for 3D topology and 3D analysis are discussed. Simulations of this model for 3D cadastre are implemented. This model can be adopted by most countries to enhance and streamline geometric 3D property ownership for urban centres. 3D TIN concept for spatial modelling can be adopted for the LA_Spatial part of the Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) (ISO/TC211, 2012), this satisfies the concept of 3D volumes.

Spontaneous ovulation or male effect in alpacas and llamas

OpenAIRE

Sumar JB

2016-01-01

New discoveries in ovulation induced mammals, researchers considered the question of whether spontaneous and induced ovulations are distinct entities or individual parts of a single continuum of a “malefacilitated oestrus and ovulation”. This rigid classification should be taken with precaution, because is possible that the various mechanisms involved in the spontaneous ovulation can, under specific conditions coexist in some determined species. It is possible that male hormones can provoke t...

Spontaneous infarction of hyperplastic breast tissue: A case report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yoo, Eun Young; Nam, Sang Yu; Choi, Hye Young; Hong, Min Ji [Dept. of Radiology, Gil Medical Center, Gachon University School of Medicine and Science, Incheon (Korea, Republic of)

2015-09-15

Spontaneous breast infarction is a very rare complication of fibroadenoma of the breast. We present an interesting case of a 33-year-old woman with spontaneous infarction of hyperplastic breast tissue related to pregnancy and lactation. Mammography showed an oval, circumscribed, fat-containing mass with microcalcifications. Ultrasonography revealed an oval, circumscribed mass with echogenic dots. Color Doppler imaging revealed presence of minimal vascularity at the periphery of the mass.

Development of Selectable Marker-Free Transgenic Rice Plants with Enhanced Seed Tocopherol Content through FLP/FRT-Mediated Spontaneous Auto-Excision.

Science.gov (United States)

Woo, Hee-Jong; Qin, Yang; Park, Soo-Yun; Park, Soon Ki; Cho, Yong-Gu; Shin, Kong-Sik; Lim, Myung-Ho; Cho, Hyun-Suk

2015-01-01

Development of marker-free transgenic plants is a technical alternative for avoiding concerns about the safety of selectable marker genes used in genetically modified (GM) crops. Here, we describe the construction of a spontaneous self-excision binary vector using an oxidative stress-inducible modified FLP/FRT system and its successful application to produce marker-free transgenic rice plants with enhanced seed tocopherol content. To generate selectable marker-free transgenic rice plants, we constructed a binary vector using the hpt selectable marker gene and the rice codon-optimized FLP (mFLP) gene under the control of an oxidative stress-inducible promoter between two FRT sites, along with multiple cloning sites for convenient cloning of genes of interest. Using this pCMF binary vector with the NtTC gene, marker-free T1 transgenic rice plants expressing NtTC were produced by Agrobacterium-mediated stable transformation using hygromycin as a selective agent, followed by segregation of selectable marker genes. Furthermore, α-, γ-, and total tocopherol levels were significantly increased in seeds of the marker-free transgenic TC line compared with those of wild-type plants. Thus, this spontaneous auto-excision system, incorporating an oxidative stress-inducible mFLP/FRT system to eliminate the selectable marker gene, can be easily adopted and used to efficiently generate marker-free transgenic rice plants. Moreover, nutritional enhancement of rice seeds through elevation of tocopherol content coupled with this marker-free strategy may improve human health and public acceptance of GM rice.

Recurrent Primary Spontaneous Pneumothorax is Common Following Chest Tube and Conservative Treatment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olesen, Winnie Hedevang; Lindahl-Jacobsen, Rune; Katballe, Niels

2016-01-01

INTRODUCTION: Previous studies on primary spontaneous pneumothorax reported variable recurrence rates, but they were based on heterogeneous patient populations including secondary pneumothorax. We investigated young patients with primary spontaneous pneumothorax exclusively and used a national...... registry to track readmissions and calculate independent predictors of recurrence. METHODS: A prospective cohort study of consecutive young patients who were admitted over a 5-year period with their first episode of primary spontaneous pneumothorax and treated conservatively with a chest tube. Baseline...... characteristics were obtained from questionnaires presented on admittance. All patients were discharged with fully expanded lungs on chest radiography. Patient charts were identified in the national electronic patient registry for detailed information on readmissions due to recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax...

Spontaneous core–shell elemental distribution in In-rich InxGa1−xN nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gómez-Gómez, M; Garro, N; Cantarero, A; Mengistu, H T; García-Cristóbal, A; Murcia-Mascarós, S; Segura-Ruiz, J; Martinez-Criado, G; Denker, C; Malindretos, J; Rizzi, A

2014-01-01

The elemental distribution of self-organized In-rich In x Ga 1−x N nanowires grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy has been investigated using three different techniques with spatial resolution on the nanoscale. Two-dimensional images and elemental profiles of single nanowires obtained by x-ray fluorescence and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, respectively, have revealed a radial gradient in the alloy composition of each individual nanowire. The spectral selectivity of resonant Raman scattering has been used to enhance the signal from very small volumes with different elemental composition within single nanowires. The combination of the three techniques has provided sufficient sensitivity and spatial resolution to prove the spontaneous formation of a core–shell nanowire and to quantify the thicknesses and alloy compositions of the core and shell regions. A theoretical model based on continuum elastic theory has been used to estimate the strain fields present in such inhomogeneous nanowires. These results suggest new strategies for achieving high quality non-polar heterostructures. (paper)

Spontaneous core–shell elemental distribution in In-rich In(x)Ga1-xN nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy.

Science.gov (United States)

Gómez-Gómez, M; Garro, N; Segura-Ruiz, J; Martinez-Criado, G; Cantarero, A; Mengistu, H T; García-Cristóbal, A; Murcia-Mascarós, S; Denker, C; Malindretos, J; Rizzi, A

2014-02-21

The elemental distribution of self-organized In-rich In(x)Ga1-xN nanowires grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy has been investigated using three different techniques with spatial resolution on the nanoscale. Two-dimensional images and elemental profiles of single nanowires obtained by x-ray fluorescence and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, respectively, have revealed a radial gradient in the alloy composition of each individual nanowire. The spectral selectivity of resonant Raman scattering has been used to enhance the signal from very small volumes with different elemental composition within single nanowires. The combination of the three techniques has provided sufficient sensitivity and spatial resolution to prove the spontaneous formation of a core–shell nanowire and to quantify the thicknesses and alloy compositions of the core and shell regions. A theoretical model based on continuum elastic theory has been used to estimate the strain fields present in such inhomogeneous nanowires. These results suggest new strategies for achieving high quality nonpolar heterostructures.

Synaptic model for spontaneous activity in developing networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lerchner, Alexander; Rinzel, J.

2005-01-01

Spontaneous rhythmic activity occurs in many developing neural networks. The activity in these hyperexcitable networks is comprised of recurring "episodes" consisting of "cycles" of high activity that alternate with "silent phases" with little or no activity. We introduce a new model of synaptic...... dynamics that takes into account that only a fraction of the vesicles stored in a synaptic terminal is readily available for release. We show that our model can reproduce spontaneous rhythmic activity with the same general features as observed in experiments, including a positive correlation between...

Characterizing spontaneous irregular behavior in coupled map lattices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dobyns, York; Atmanspacher, Harald

2005-01-01

Two-dimensional coupled map lattices display, in a specific parameter range, a stable phase (quasi-) periodic in both space and time. With small changes to the model parameters, this stable phase develops spontaneous eruptions of non-periodic behavior. Although this behavior itself appears irregular, it can be characterized in a systematic fashion. In particular, parameter-independent features of the spontaneous eruptions may allow useful empirical characterizations of other phenomena that are intrinsically hard to predict and reproduce. Specific features of the distributions of lifetimes and emergence rates of irregular states display such parameter-independent properties

Characterizing spontaneous irregular behavior in coupled map lattices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dobyns, York [PEAR, Princeton University Princeton, NJ 08544-5263 (United States); Atmanspacher, Harald [Institut fuer Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene Wilhelmstrasse 3a, Freiburg 79098 (Germany)]. E-mail: haa@igpp.de

2005-04-01

Two-dimensional coupled map lattices display, in a specific parameter range, a stable phase (quasi-) periodic in both space and time. With small changes to the model parameters, this stable phase develops spontaneous eruptions of non-periodic behavior. Although this behavior itself appears irregular, it can be characterized in a systematic fashion. In particular, parameter-independent features of the spontaneous eruptions may allow useful empirical characterizations of other phenomena that are intrinsically hard to predict and reproduce. Specific features of the distributions of lifetimes and emergence rates of irregular states display such parameter-independent properties.

Spontaneous compactification and Ricci-flat manifolds with torsion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McInnes, B.

1985-06-01

The Freund-Rubin mechanism is based on the equation Rsub(ik)=lambdagsub(ik) (where lambda>0), which, via Myers' Theorem, implies ''spontaneous'' compactification. The difficulties connected with the cosmological constant in this approach can be resolved if torsion is introduced and lambda set equal to zero, but then compactification ''by hand'' is necessary, since the equation Rsub(ik)=0 can be satisfied both on compact and on non-compact manifolds. In this paper we discuss the global geometry of Ricci-flat manifolds with torsion, and suggest ways of restoring the ''spontaneity'' of the compactification. (author)

Spontaneous symmetry breaking, self-trapping, and Josephson oscillations

CERN Document Server

2013-01-01

This volume collects a a number of contributions on spontaneous symmetry breaking. Current studies in this general field are going ahead at a full speed. The book present review chapters which give an overview on the major break throughs of recent years. It covers a number of different physical settings which are introduced when a nonlinearity is added to the underlying symmetric problems and its strength exceeds a certain critical value. The corresponding loss of symmetry, called spontaneous symmetry breaking, alias self-trapping into asymmetric states is extensively discussed in this book.

Nonclassical photon streams using rephased amplified spontaneous emission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ledingham, Patrick M.; Naylor, William R.; Longdell, Jevon J.; Beavan, Sarah E.; Sellars, Matthew J.

2010-01-01

We present a fully quantum mechanical treatment of optically rephased photon echoes. These echoes exhibit noise due to amplified spontaneous emission; however, this noise can be seen as a consequence of the entanglement between the atoms and the output light. With a rephasing pulse one can get an 'echo' of the amplified spontaneous emission, leading to light with nonclassical correlations at points separated in time, which is of interest in the context of building wide bandwith quantum repeaters. We also suggest a wideband version of DLCZ protocol based on the same ideas.

Spontaneous drainage in syringomyelia: magnetic resonance imaging findings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bogdanov, E.I.; Mendelevich, E.G.; Ibatullin, M.M.

2000-01-01

We present five cases of syringomyelia associated with Chiari I or other causes of partial obstructions at the cervicomedullary junction, with spontaneous disruption of the wall of a cervical syrinx and formation of a communication between the cavity and the subarachnoid space, shown on axial MRI. MRI can be used to investigate the hydrodynamics, showing the liquid inside the disrupted syrinx wall and the pathway of drainage. The finding of spontaneous drainage may be important for understanding the pathogenesis of syringomyelia and may be helpful for choosing a surgical approach. (orig.)

Spontaneous drainage in syringomyelia: magnetic resonance imaging findings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bogdanov, E.I.; Mendelevich, E.G. [Kazan State Medical Univ. (Russian Federation). Dept. of Neurology and Rehabilitation; Ibatullin, M.M. [Republic Medical Diagnostic Centre of Tatarstan, Kazan (Russian Federation). Department of Radiology

2000-09-01

We present five cases of syringomyelia associated with Chiari I or other causes of partial obstructions at the cervicomedullary junction, with spontaneous disruption of the wall of a cervical syrinx and formation of a communication between the cavity and the subarachnoid space, shown on axial MRI. MRI can be used to investigate the hydrodynamics, showing the liquid inside the disrupted syrinx wall and the pathway of drainage. The finding of spontaneous drainage may be important for understanding the pathogenesis of syringomyelia and may be helpful for choosing a surgical approach. (orig.)

Spatial ability of slow learners based on Hubert Maier theory

Science.gov (United States)

Permatasari, I.; Pramudya, I.; Kusmayadi, T. A.

2018-03-01

Slow learners are children who have low learning achievement (under the average of normal children) in one or all of the academic field, but they are not classified as a mentally retarded children. Spatial ability developed according to age and level of knowledge possessed, both from the neighborhood and formal education. Analyzing the spatial ability of students is important for teachers, as an effort to improve the quality of learning for slow learners. Especially on the implementation of inclusion school which is developing in Indonesia. This research used a qualitative method and involved slow learner students as the subject. Based on the data analysis it was found the spatial ability of slow learners, there were: spatial perception, students were able to describe the other shape of object when its position changed; spatial visualisation, students were able to describe the materials that construct an object; mental rotation, students cannot describe the object being rotated; spatial relation, students cannot describe the relations of same objects; spatial orientation, students were able to describe object from the others perspective.

Spontaneous Clearance of Hepatitis C after Liver and Renal Transplantation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CH Dale

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Spontaneous clearance of hepatitis C virus (HCV is rare in immunocompromised patients, such as those who have undergone organ transplantation. It has been recognized that patients receiving liver transplantation for HCV-related disease have decreased graft and patient survival compared with those transplanted for other etiologies. There is a growing trend toward treating HCV recurrence aggressively after liver transplantation. For other organ transplant recipients with concurrent HCV, treatment is not often an option, given the high rates of graft rejection and loss secondary to interferon and its immunomodulatory effects. Although spontaneous clearance of HCV has been reported in recipients of solitary liver and renal transplants, a common factor arising in these cases has been previous exposure to interferon. To date, no reports of spontaneous clearance of HCV RNA have been reported in a multiorgan transplant recipient. A case of spontaneous clearance of HCV RNA in an immunocompromised patient, within five months of simultaneous liver and kidney retransplantation is described. Importantly, this patient had no previous exposure to interferon.

Regulation of Spontaneous Eosinophil Apoptosis—A Neglected Area of Importance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pinja Ilmarinen

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Asthma is characterized by the accumulation of eosinophils in the airways in most phenotypes. Eosinophils are inflammatory cells that require an external survival-prolonging stimulus such as granulocyte macrophage-colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF, interleukin (IL-5, or IL-3 for survival. In their absence, eosinophils are programmed to die by spontaneous apoptosis in a few days. Eosinophil apoptosis can be accelerated by Fas ligation or by pharmacological agents such as glucocorticoids. Evidence exists for the relevance of these survival-prolonging and pro-apoptotic agents in the regulation of eosinophilic inflammation in inflamed airways. Much less is known about the physiological significance and mechanisms of spontaneous eosinophil apoptosis even though it forms the basis of regulation of eosinophil longevity by pathophysiological factors and pharmacological agents. This review concentrates on discussing the mechanisms of spontaneous eosinophil apoptosis compared to those of glucocorticoid- and Fas-induced apoptosis. We aim to answer the question whether the external apoptotic stimuli only augment the ongoing pathway of spontaneous apoptosis or truly activate a specific pathway.

Thermodynamic insight into spontaneous hydration and rapid water permeation in aquaporins

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barati Farimani, A.; Aluru, N. R. [Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (United States); Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (United States); Tajkhorshid, Emad [Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (United States); Department of Biochemistry and Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (United States)

2014-08-25

We report here a detailed thermodynamic description of water molecules inside a biological water channel. Taking advantage of high-resolution molecular dynamics trajectories calculated for an aquaporin (AQP) channel, we compute the spatial translational and rotational components of water diffusion and entropy in AQP. Our results reveal that the spontaneous filling and entry of water into the pore in AQPs are driven by an entropic gain. Specifically, water molecules exhibit an elevated degree of rotational motion inside the pore, while their translational motion is slow compared with bulk. The partial charges of the lining asparagine residues at the conserved signature Asn-Pro-Ala motifs play a key role in enhancing rotational diffusion and facilitating dipole flipping of water inside the pore. The frequencies of the translational and rotational motions in the power spectra overlap indicating a strong coupling of these motions in AQPs. A shooting mechanism with diffusive behavior is observed in the extracellular region which might be a key factor in the fast conduction of water in AQPs.

Issues and dilemmas in preparation and implementation of the spatial plan of the municipality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maksin Marija

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Disadvantages of the Serbian planning system and dilemmas about the role of spatial planning in Serbia mainly is reflected at the local level of spatial planning. The focus of the spatial plan of the municipality from the strategic to regulatory role has been shifted by the changes of legal basis. In this paper the key issues and dilemmas in the practice of preparation and implementation of the spatial plan of the municipality in Serbia are pointed out. The review of the three key issues of importance for the direct implementation of planning solutions and concepts: identification of the construction zone, the establishment of rules for the protection, arrangement and construction of physical (natural, landscape and functional entities and settlements, and elaboration of arrangement scheme for the settlement are presented. It has still not made clear what the arrangement scheme for the settlement should represent, so that in practice there is wide variety of schemes, usually completely unenforceable. Good examples of arrangement schemes elaboration within spatial plan of the municipality have been presented and analyzed. Suggestions for improving the content of the strategic and regulatory elements of the spatial plan of the municipality, as well as recommendations to the basic content of the arrangement scheme for settlement as a part of this spatial plan are proposed.

Spontaneous common bile duct perforation—A rare clinical entity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melissa Amberger

Full Text Available Introduction: Spontaneous common bile duct perforation is an uncommon clinical entity in both adults and children. Few case reports have been published since the first clinical description in 1882. Our work has been reported in line with SCARE criteria. Presentation of case: Herein, we describe the case of a 28 year-old female who suffered spontaneous common bile duct perforation while admitted for choledocholithiasis. Discussion: The perforation occurred while in-hospital, and extensive imaging and laboratory tests characterized the disease in detail. To our knowledge, this is the first report of spontaneous common bile duct perforation witnessed from pre-perforation through definitive management. Conclusion: Physicians and Surgeons should seek out this uncommon diagnosis in the patient with suspected Choledocholithiasis who suddenly become peritoneal on physical exam so that definitive care can be expedited. Keywords: Common bile duct, Biliary peritonitis, Choledocholithiasis

Prospective memory: effects of divided attention on spontaneous retrieval.

Science.gov (United States)

Harrison, Tyler L; Mullet, Hillary G; Whiffen, Katie N; Ousterhout, Hunter; Einstein, Gilles O

2014-02-01

We examined the effects of divided attention on the spontaneous retrieval of a prospective memory intention. Participants performed an ongoing lexical decision task with an embedded prospective memory demand, and also performed a divided-attention task during some segments of lexical decision trials. In all experiments, monitoring was highly discouraged, and we observed no evidence that participants engaged monitoring processes. In Experiment 1, performing a moderately demanding divided-attention task (a digit detection task) did not affect prospective memory performance. In Experiment 2, performing a more challenging divided-attention task (random number generation) impaired prospective memory. Experiment 3 showed that this impairment was eliminated when the prospective memory cue was perceptually salient. Taken together, the results indicate that spontaneous retrieval is not automatic and that challenging divided-attention tasks interfere with spontaneous retrieval and not with the execution of a retrieved intention.

Recanalisation of spontaneously occluded vertebral artery dissection after subarachnoid haemorrhage.

Science.gov (United States)

Akiyama, Takenori; Onozuka, Satoshi; Horiguchi, Takashi; Yoshida, Kazunari

2012-10-01

Spontaneous occlusion is a rare manifestation of ruptured vertebral artery dissection (VAD). Its natural history and treatment strategy have yet to be established due to its rarity. Here, we report five lesions involving spontaneous occlusion of VAD after subarachnoid haemorrhage, among which three lesions showed recanalisation. Based on our experience and previous reports, spontaneous occlusion of ruptured VAD can be classified into two groups-one group with occlusion in the acute stage with a high incidence of recanalisation and another group with occlusion in the chronic stage with a relatively low incidence of recanalisation. The underlying mechanism is likely different in each group, and treatment strategies should also be tailored depending on the pathophysiology.

Spontane abdominale arteriovenøse fistler

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Flarup, S; Lindholt, Jes Sanddal

1997-01-01

Spontaneous arteriovenous fistulas between major abdominal vessels (AAVF) complicates about 1% of abdominal aortic aneurysms. AAVF produces severe circulatory disturbances with high operative mortality. Preoperative diagnosis is important but difficult due to the varied nature of presentation. Fo...

Measuring emotional and cognitive empathy using dynamic, naturalistic, and spontaneous emotion displays.

Science.gov (United States)

Buck, Ross; Powers, Stacie R; Hull, Kyle S

2017-10-01

Most measures of nonverbal receiving ability use posed expressions as stimuli. As empathy measures, such stimuli lack ecological validity, as the participant is not actually experiencing emotion. An alternative approach uses natural and dynamic displays of spontaneous expressions. The Communication of Affect Receiving Ability Test (CARAT) uses as stimuli spontaneous facial expressions and gestures filmed by an unobtrusive camera of solitary participants responding to emotional images. This article reports the development and initial validation of the CARAT-Spontaneous, Posed, Regulated (CARAT-SPR), which measures both abilities to detect emotion from spontaneous displays (emotion communication accuracy) and to differentiate spontaneous, posed, and regulated displays (expression categorization ability). Although spontaneous displays are natural responses to emotional images, posed displays involve asking the sender to display "as if" responding to a particular sort of image when no image is in fact present (simulation), while Regulated displays involve asking the sender to display "as if" responding to a particular sort of image when an image of opposite valence is in fact present (masking). Expression categorization ability involves judging deception-simulation and masking-and conceptually involves a kind of perspective-taking or cognitive empathy. Emotion communication using spontaneous clips achieved a high level of accuracy and was strongly correlated with ratings of sender expressivity. Expression categorization ability was not significantly correlated with expressivity ratings and was modestly negatively correlated with emotion communication accuracy. In a brief version of the CARAT-SPR, women showed evidence of greater emotion signal detection, whereas men reported greater confidence in expression categorization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Spontaneous Tricuspid Valve Chordal Rupture in Idiopathic Pulmonary Hypertension.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodrigues, Ana Clara Tude; Afonso, José E; Cordovil, Adriana; Monaco, Claudia; Piveta, Rafael; Cordovil, Rodrigo; Fischer, Claudio H; Vieira, Marcelo; Lira-Filho, Edgar; Morhy, Samira S

2016-03-01

Rupture of tricuspid valve is unusual, occurring mainly in the setting of blunt trauma or endomyocardial biopsy. Spontaneous tricuspid valve chordal rupture is particularly rare. We report herein a case of a patient with severe pulmonary hypertension, on the lung transplantation waiting list, who presented with spontaneous chordal rupture, exacerbation of tricuspid insufficiency and worsening of clinical status. Diagnosis and treatment, along with possible mechanisms for this complication, are discussed. © 2015, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Spontaneous Responses to Neoliberalism, and their Significance for Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Johannes L van der Walt

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This paper is a sequel to the keynote address at the 2017 BCES Conference. The keynote address concluded with the thought that some educationists respond intuitively and spontaneously to neoliberalism and its impact on education whereas others reject neoliberalist precepts and their pedagogical implications on definite principled grounds. This paper deals with the former response; it offers pedagogical insights gleaned from an overview of intuitive, spontaneous reactions to neoliberalism.

Highly Efficient Spontaneous Emission from Self-Assembled Quantum Dots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Johansen, Jeppe; Lund-Hansen, Toke; Hvam, Jørn Märcher

2006-01-01

We present time resolved measurements of spontaneous emission (SE) from InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs). The measurements are interpreted using Fermi's Golden Rule and from this analysis we establish the parameters for high quantum efficiency.......We present time resolved measurements of spontaneous emission (SE) from InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs). The measurements are interpreted using Fermi's Golden Rule and from this analysis we establish the parameters for high quantum efficiency....

Simulation investigation of storage ring optical klystron spontaneous emission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Hongliang; Liu Jinying; He Duohui; Diao Caozheng; Jia Qika; Sun Baogen

1998-01-01

The spontaneous emission of TOK in Hefei storage ring was simulated with Monte Carlo method. Section one described the structure of the permanent magnet TOK and the magnet field of TOK. Section two simulated results, and simulated results illustrated how the energy spread and emittance of electron beam impose on the spectrum of spontaneous emission. And with help of simulated results, the causes of small modulation factor which was measured by experiment was discussed

Spontaneous herniation of the thoracic spinal cord : a case report